There for You
by StarvingLunatic
Summary: AU. Kigo. Kim is a hero, an author, and a painter who can do anything, except get a date. That probably explains why Bonnie gives her a card to an escort service.
1. All work and no play

I don't own these characters.

This is an AU. I'm talking really AU. So, if that's not your deal, you might wanna make a speedy getaway now.

This is also Kigo … come on, I'm sure you knew that.

There for You

1: All work and no play

Bonnie could not contain her smile as she attended yet another big party. It was a formal affair and she was wearing one of her best dresses, looking to impress those around her. The revenue was beautiful, with high ceilings and crystal chandlers. There was an opening to a green terrace with a marvelous fountain. People were collected in groups, speaking with each other and sipping expensive champagne.

She supposed she liked the gatherings because she enjoyed mingling with people. She was a social creature by birth and by nurturing. She liked mixing with different kind of folks, as long as they were the "right kind" of people. Her life seemed to be made up of parties, some larger and more formal than others, when she was not working. She had to attend parties not just because of her work, but also because of her boyfriend's occupation.

Bonnie was a dancer and she had to attend fundraisers, parties, and galas of all types either to promote a new show, to hook in producers, or get to know other people in the business, or any other number of things. She did not mind that. She understood it to be part of her job if she wanted to continue to have work, which she did of course. She was living her dream by dancing for a living.

She tended to drag her boyfriend and best friend to any parties that she had to go to because her boyfriend dragged her to all of his parties. He had plenty social events because he was an artist and their shared best friend was just stuck in the middle. They believed that she needed to get out more often, anyway. Besides, she was usually supposed to be at those parties too, most of the time.

"Babe, have you seen her yet?" Josh asked as he came over to Bonnie. He tugged at the collar of his shirt, earning a gentle slap from her tanned hand. A pout settle on his face that she ignored.

"No, you know how she is with time," Bonnie answered. Despite her answer, her turquoise eyes scanned the crowded room.

Bonnie and Josh were trying to keep an eye out for their mutual best friend, who they had learned did not seem to understand time too well. She was almost always late to any of the functions that they attended. She also had the bad habit of showing up dressed like a bum, which Bonnie suspected was an artist thing because Josh used to do the same thing. She was there to make sure that Josh left the house looking presentable if they had to go out, as she had done that night dressing him in a fashionable tux, but no one was there to make sure that their best friend looked presentable.

Personally, Bonnie would have gone to their friend's house and made sure that she wore something appropriate, but she was almost never home. She got out plenty, but not to the right places in Bonnie's all-important opinion. She would get that girl some sophisticated culture, even if it killed her.

"How long do we have to stay here?" Josh asked curiously as he looked around. His survey of the room was much more anxious than hers, his eyes darting around rapidly. It was not really his scene, not that he minded being there. It was just that it was a formal party and he had been all but forced into a tuxedo; the threat of no sex for a month was actually force in his opinion. He could have resisted gunpoint a lot better than no sex.

"Through out the night. Go mingle, baby. You might get a commission or two," Bonnie suggested with a sweet smile. "And don't mess with your time," she added, knowing he would tug at the tie as soon as he thought that she was not looking.

Josh did not argue that and nodded as a silent promise to leave the tie alone. He walked off to go mix with the other people in attendance. He had no problem with chatting with people and getting to know folks. It was fairly easy for him since he was such an easygoing person. It did not take long for people he had just met to begin introducing him to other partygoers as if they had known him for years. It was a good skill for someone like him to have because it helped sell paintings.

Bonnie went to mix with everyone also. She was used to all the parties and took to it like a fish to water. Her fellow dancers came around and introduced her to new people that they believed she needed to know. She held conversations with several "need to know" people while keeping an eye out for her missing friend.

When her friend finally showed up, it was not hard to miss her. All Bonnie had to do was turn to where she noticed any shocked expressions in a fairly large group. She followed any gawking and it led her right to her best friend, Kim Possible.

"Only her," Bonnie sighed as she noticed what Kim was wearing.

Kim had shown up to a very formal event in jeans and a pink tank top, which was actually expected of her by her friends. Once upon a time, Kim had been very fashion conscience, but that time seemed so long ago; it was actually only two years ago. After leaving behind the peer pressure of high school, Kim dropped fashion like a hot brick and picked up other hobbies that seemed to mean a lot more to her than clothing ever did. She spent most of her money on her hobbies now rather than searching for top of the line apparel.

"Kim, I dig it when you were these pants," Josh commented as he approached the redhead, smiling brightly at her.

"Don't encourage her. Why the hell do you show up everywhere looking like a hobo, even though you know it's going to be a formal affair?" Bonnie demanded as she stormed over and joined the pair.

Kim did not respond. She looked around; it certainly was a formal affair. She had suspected as much, but she did not have the time to change into a dress. She had come to the party right after a mission and what she was wearing at the moment was the best that she could do. If she had gone home to change, she would not have bothered to leave to go the party.

"It was this or I was just going to go to bed," Kim answered with a shrug.

"I can understand that one," Josh commented with a laugh and he patted the hero on the shoulder.

Bonnie frowned and slapped her boyfriend's hand away. He pouted slightly, if only to appease her. She disliked that Kim and Josh were so alike now. It used to be that she and Kim were alike, which made their friendship a very rocky one and people used to think that they were more enemies or rivals rather than friends. But, Kim had changed so much since they graduated high school and got out on their own. She was like a whole new person, but they were still friends. They would always be friends, no matter how much Kim got on her nerves.

"Stop encouraging her," Bonnie scolded her boyfriend yet again.

"What?" Josh pretended that he did not know what the dancer was going on about. He gave her a small smile with the hope that it would get him out of trouble.

"Kim, did you at least bring someone with you?" Bonnie asked.

Kim shook her head and her best friend pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. "What am I going to do with you, Kim? All I want to do is civilize you like I've done with Josh," Bonnie commented and Kim opened her mouth to object, but Bonnie held up her hand. "I'm simply trying to break you both of these bohemian lifestyles that you seem to believe come along with being an artist. You need to do some normal things."

"I do normal things," the redhead argued.

"Oh, really? Because jetting halfway around the world to find crazy treasure or pull people out of mudslides that could easily be handled by proper authorities is normal," Bonnie snorted and rolled her eyes.

Kim ran around doing her "hero thing" like always and it seemed to make her miss out on regular things that people their age did, like date. The redhead never had a date when they went to parties, formal or otherwise. She always just showed up looking like a bum and allowing Josh to drag her around to meet people that would hopefully buy some of their work.

"What am I supposed to do with you two? Really, just what the hell?" Bonnie wondered out loud, shaking her head.

"It's all right, babe. Let it go," Josh said with a soft smile and then he turned his attention to the redheaded hero. "Kim, I have this guy you really need to meet. He saw the work you did on that beach scene and he is dying to have you do one for him. He was practically begging me to introduce him to you," he explained with a bright grin.

"No, no, no. She's coming with me. I've got a dancer that she needs to meet," Bonnie declared, taking Kim by the hand.

"Money or sex, Kimmie?" Josh inquired with an arched eyebrow and a half-smirk.

Bonnie frowned again because of the way that her boyfriend had phrased the options. Kim was obviously going to go with him because money was what paid the bills and brought the precious paint that they would probably mount if they could. Not to mention, sex seemed be to at the bottom of Kim's priorities. As expected, Kim went off with Josh and Bonnie went back to talking with dancers and such.

The redhead and the bleached blonde worked the room in their own way. Josh was smooth and charming while Kim was respectful and knowledgeable on all sorts of things. Their relaxed smiles seemed to disarm everyone and their warm personalities beckoned people to them. They talked galleries with people until someone recognized Kim and brought up the young lady's other occupations.

"Oh, my goodness, you are the famous Kim Possible," a woman gasped as she stared at the redhead.

"Um … okay," Kim answered, rubbing her forehead a bit. She would not categorize herself as "famous," but if that was what the woman wanted to say, she would not correct her.

"I've read all of your books. You're amazing," the woman said in awe of the slender hero.

"Thank you," Kim said graciously, smiling a bit.

"Can I have your autograph, please?" the woman requested.

Kim was not sure what to answer. She did not often get requests for her autographs, but she had no problem with taking the time to put her signature to something. But, she did not have a pen or a piece of paper, which did not stop her fan. The woman quickly secured both items.

"Look at how popular you are," Josh teased Kim as she managed to get away from a few other people that wanted her autograph when they found out that she was an author of several popular books.

Kim had five best-selling books under her belt. She wrote three non-fiction accounts of her adventures and two fictional accounts. The non-fictional books were brought up more than fictional, but the fictional books were more popular. People tended to not believe her non-fictional works and seemed to buy those editions to publicly scoff at her and call her a liar. Of course, she had defenders of her works, too, and they argued with the naysayers.

She tended to ignore any debates, unless she was on some show where they wanted to ask her about the books. She would simply say the books were in the non-fictional section for a reason and the fictional ones were put where they needed to be for a reason. She had more than enough witnesses to vouch for her non-fictional books for her to not care what other people thought.

"You need to be trying to pick someone up while you're getting so much attention," Bonnie told Kim as she rejoined the artists.

"I'm not going to pick up someone that wants my autograph," Kim argued with a horrified expression. The last thing she wanted to do was date a fan of hers. That would probably the definition of "awk-weird."

"I can see your point. Here, I got this for you." Bonnie handed the redhead a card.

Kim arched an eyebrow. "What's this?" she asked as she looked down at the business card.

The turquoise-eyed female looked around to make sure that no one around was paying them any mind. She then leaned over and whispered what the card was for to Kim. Olive eyes went wide and the redhead actually yelped when she heard what the card was.

"Care to let me in on the secret?" Josh inquired. He wanted to know because he had never seen the petite hero appear so aghast.

"Bonnie, I'm not going to use this card," Kim objected while trying to push the embarrassing piece of paper back into her friend's hand, but the tanned female was not trying to take it back.

Bonnie stepped away slightly, holding her hand up and closed into tight fits. "Why not? You need to. Whether you use it for a night on the town or on the next party, you'd better use that card," she ordered.

"I'm not gonna use it. I'm not going to pay some guy to accompany me to a party. I don't even like guys," Kim pointed out.

"No, really?" Bonnie said sarcastically. She had only known Kim since the first grade, so of course she knew that the redhead was a lesbian.

"Okay, so what you're trying to tell me is—" Kim did not even get to finish her sentence because her best friend cut her off.

"Yes, they cater to people such as yourself. So, use the fucking card," Bonnie commanded in a low tone, pointing a threatening index finger at the hero.

"I'm not—"

"You'd better or I swear you're going to regret it," Bonnie promised with a growl.

Kim yelped again and nodded. Out of the trio, it was a bit clear that Bonnie was in charge now. In the past, Kim probably would have argued with Bonnie until they were just not going to speak to each other for a few days, but lately, Kim did not even bother to waste the energy. Sometimes, Bonnie missed the long arguments, but she liked winning, so it balanced out.

The slender hero put the card in her back pocket and even though she had no intention of using it. Ever. It was for an escort service. Kim did not think that she was so desperate that she needed to ever hire a date … or more.

-8-8-8-8-

Shego sat down at a bar known as The Triple S. It was late at night or early in the morning, depending on who one asked. She was nursing a drink and flirting a bit with the muscle-head bartender. He was a handsome guy, who obviously took great pride in his appearance and she could understand that. Considering the fact that he probably had ferrets burrowing in his head, all he had left were his looks.

The green-skinned woman glanced around the empty bar, which looked like most other bars, but a bit larger. To her right, on one of the cushy stools, was the bar owner. He was an old gentleman and he tended to just sit in the corner when she was in the bar, but it was because she was usually there close to closing time. He often walked around and mingled with his patrons when the bar had people in it. He liked making sure everything was all right in his place and he understood that people would return to his establishment and become regulars if the atmosphere was friendly and comfortable.

Shego then glanced to the left of her and noticed a lone girl in the corner. She was a cute redhead that was folded up in a booth with nothing on the table and watching the television in the bar. She seemed to into whatever was on, Shego noted. She wondered why the girl was in a bar watching the television, though.

"Hey, Senior," Shego called to the bar owner.

"What do you want, girl?" Senor Senior Senior inquired in a bit of a huff.

He did not like Shego too much and she was not totally sure why. After all, there were so many reasons to dislike her, so she wondered which one or ones it was that he chose to hate her for. She suspected his reasons were because she liked flirting with his dimwit son and he knew how she made her money. He needed to just relax in her opinion, especially since it was not like she was doing anything with his moronic offspring. He did not make enough money for her to do anything with him.

"What's her deal?" Shego asked while pointing to the svelte redhead.

"Oh, her. That's Kim. I believe that she comes in every now and then because she likes to watch the soccer matches here," Senor Senior Senior answered, pointing to one of the other televisions. There was a soccer match on.

"Why not just watch them at home?" the pale woman wondered out loud with a scrunched up face.

"I do not believe she has a television at home," he replied.

Senor did not know much about Kim, except that she was a big time soccer fan, which he could understand. He spoke to her on occasion when she came in and he was in a walking around mood. He often asked why a pretty young lady such as herself was alone in a bar and she would only say that she wanted to catch the match. He did not bother her when she was in the bar most of the time because she really seemed to only want to watch the match. She brought drinks while she was there, so he did not mind. Although, he was amused that she always brought soda.

"No TV?" Shego inquired in disbelief. She did not think that people lived without televisions nowadays. Having no television was like having no phone or indoor plumbing to her and, the last time she checked, they were well out of the nineteenth century.

"No, no television," he stated, shaking his head.

Shego glanced back over to the redhead again. She watched the girl briefly and then turned back to the bar. She tapped the wooden countertop with her glass to get the Neanderthal's attention.

"What?" Junior inquired.

"I want to buy that girl a drink. What's she drinking?" Shego asked. She felt like doing something and the kid was there, so maybe something could turn out to be pleasurable.

"I don't know. Ask my father. He took her order, like he always does," Junior informed her.

"Senior," the pale woman practically snorted.

"Leave the kid alone. She's a good girl and she always wants to watch her game. She even buys drinks while she's here instead of just sitting there watching my TV like other idiots would. So, leave her alone," Senor Senior Senior replied.

"You can't tell me who I can and can't buy a drink for, old man," Shego retorted.

"Leave the kid alone," he repeated.

"Fuck it. Junior, give me another shot," the curvaceous woman ordered.

The muscular young man did not argue, especially since his father did not object to the order. Junior poured the drink and handed it to Shego. She took the drink and laid down the money for it on the bar.

She strolled over to Kim and put the drink down on the table. The redhead glanced at the drink and then she glanced at the person that brought it over. She then turned her attention back to the soccer game.

"I'd take a thanks or at the least a smile for my trouble," Shego commented with a confident smirk.

Kim did not respond. She remained watching her match without giving Shego a second glance. She just wanted to watch her game and she planned on doing just that, even if others seemed to think differently.

"You're too cute to be a bitch, so you shouldn't act that way," Shego remarked with an amused look on her face.

"Look, I just want to watch my game. That's it," Kim stated with a frustrated sigh. She wanted to relax after spending all of that time at the party being yelled at by Bonnie. The fact that Bonnie thought that she was so pitiful that she needed that card bugged her, too, much more than she thought it should. She really did not want to be bothered, or hit on; it was hard for her to tell the difference now.

"You can do that. It seems like it would be a better idea if you watched it at home," Shego commented.

"Where I watch the game is my business," the redhead pointed out with a frown.

"All right, you got me there, cutie. I'll let you go. Enjoy the drink," the pale woman said. Usually, she would have cut into the little brat for being so snide with her, but she was the one that was intruding.

"I don't drink," Kim replied with a sneer.

"You don't drink when you're in a bar?" Shego inquired in disbelief. The redheaded kid was rather weird, but she was cute, so that made things all right.

"I'm not old enough," Kim answered while trying to control her emotions. God, she really just wanted to watch the football match and call it a night.

"Try it anyway and you should be a bit more polite when people buy you drinks, Princess," Shego said with a wink and then she walked back to the bar.

Kim pushed the alcoholic beverage away from her and turned her attention back to the television. Shego noticed that the girl had shunned her drink and decided not to think of the little redhead anymore. She would excuse the disrespect just because she did not feel like having to deal with the old man huffing at her for beating the piss out of one of his customers.

Besides, it had been a good night for Shego, so she was in a giving mood. She finished off her drink and made a comment to Junior that made the bartender's father frown. She gave the old man a suggestive smirk as she exited the bar. She wanted to tell Senor Senior Senior that he did not have to worry about her with Junior since she was half-certain that the narcissistic young man was gay.

She cast a linger look at the girl in the corner and saw that she was still into her game. _That certainly is one weird kid_. She shrugged that thought away because she had better things to do with her time than to worry about some strange redhead that did not have a television set at home. It probably would have been nice to have some fun with the spirited punk, though.

"Well, I can always have fun with someone else," Shego reminded herself as she made her way home.

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: Kim uses the card and you might be able to guess who answers her call.


	2. More work

I don't own these characters. I also don't own pop-tars, really I don't.

2: More work

Kim wandered around her loft apartment, not sure whether she should park herself at her computer or if she should park herself in front of a canvas. She probably should put in some work at her computer. She did owe her publishing company something, but she would like to do some artwork.

The redhead stared at her blank canvas. It had been so long since she did any painting. She had done some sketches a few days ago, but that was not really satisfying her muse. She itched to put some paint on the canvas, so it seemed that her pleasure was going to take place over her work for the moment.

Painting was a passion that she had stumbled into a couple of years ago and found that she had a talent for it, like her brothers had a talent for science. It worked its way into her blood after her first piece of work was done and she found it hard to stop for almost a year. She had actually forsaken college to paint. Her parents had been scandalized at first until they saw her work. They had to admit that she was brilliant with a paintbrush. They had conceded that she could always go to college later on in life.

She went to go take a shower and change her clothes before she would get to some painting. She was still in the clothing that she had worn to the party that she attended with Bonnie and Josh, which were also the clothes that she had gone on a mission in. It was well past midnight, but that did not matter to her. She had a weird sleeping schedule, one that did not really exist. She tended to just crash whenever and at the moment, she was still wide-awake for whatever reason.

She checked her pockets as usual before clothes went into the hamper and found that card that Bonnie gave her. She stared at it and told herself that she needed to just throw it out. Despite her thoughts of chucking it in the trash, she placed it down next to her paints and then went to get some clothes before hopping in the shower.

She showered, washing away the stress of the day, and then threw on some clothing that she would not mind getting some paint on. She went to her kitchen, hopping over a pile of dirty clothes along the way; sometimes, things made it _close_ to the hamper rather than _in_ it. She made herself a glass of chocolate milk and grabbed a pouch of chocolate pop-tarts. She then returned to her canvas and started to get to work.

As she worked on her picture, she glanced at the card that Bonnie had given her. She knew that her friend worried about her social life, but she could not believe that Bonnie thought that she was so desperate that she needed to hire a date. She did not have money to waste on that anyway. _Why buy a date when I could go out and buy art supplies?_

Kim did think about a question that Bonnie had asked her at the party, which was: when was the last time that she had a date? Hell, she could not even admit that she believed her last date was back in high school. She could not recall ever being on a date recently, namely in the past three years. She told herself that she did not care about dating anymore.

Dating was never really a big thing in her life. In high school, she had picked up a date here and there, but she was mostly into being in school clubs or activities and, of course, there was her world-saving gig. There was not much time for anything else and she did not mind anymore.

Of course in high school, dating had meant more to her than it did now. Girls were supposed to be landing guys in high school, after all, especially popular cheerleaders. She had always been a sucker for peer pressure and it did not help that Bonnie was her friend. Bonnie was always harping on her about dating, even though the aqua-eyed girl knew that she was a lesbian. It was not very easy for someone like her to land someone that she truly wanted to be with in high school and, obviously, she never did.

Bonnie had told her back then that she should just date guys to at least appear somewhat normal. Guys did not seem to like her too much, though. They had always looked at her as weird. Only two guys seemed to want to bother with her, but each of those guys had not stuck around too long. Josh was one of those guys, but she suspected that he only did it as a favor to Bonnie. And then there was Ron.

Ron had been her hangout partner for a long time. They had known each other since kindergarten. He used to be her best friend until they graduated high school. She bet that he would be surprised to find out that she spent so much time with Bonnie now; although back then, she had spent time with Bonnie, too, but usually not in public.

Ron had been her prom date and that had pretty much been the only date that they had ever gone on. They had no plans to do any real dating, mostly because she was a lesbian and Ron had his sights on another girl. They had gone to the prom together just because it was convenient.

Thinking of Ron, she wrote herself a note to remind herself to call him and see how he was doing. They did not speak much anymore. They led separate lives and got along rather well without each other, not that they would say that to each other. Ron lived halfway around the world now, studying to be a chef over in France of all places. She supposed that once he came back to the States, they would get back to their friendship, but until then, she was on her own with Bonnie and Josh trying to look out for her.

Kim then glanced down at the card again. _Did I really need to buy a date? Is Bonnie right?_ She shook the thoughts away. If she wanted to, surely she could go out and pick up a girl on her own. She just did not want to. She did not need a girl in her life. She was getting along well without a girl.

_Yeah, I'm just doing fine without a girl_. _But, when was the last time that I had a girl in her life?_ Her last date was in high school with Ron, but she had to have a girl somewhere in her life. She just could not recall when the last time that was.

As she thought about it, she finally remembered when she had a girl. It was about two years ago and she knew why she did not recollect. She and that girl had never gone on a date. They met up a few times and they fooled around, but they never went out on dates. _Ah well_, she thought. Dates were not that all that important, she told herself.

Kim eventually crawled into bed later that morning, figuring that she should get a few hours of sleep in while she had the chance. She had gotten halfway through her painting, so she felt all right in getting into bed. Her bedroom was situated in the corner of her loft apartment and bordered off by some sheets that she had hung up.

The "bedroom" housed little more than a wooden futon and a wooden dresser that she kept her clothing in. She had some hooks on the wall for hanging up jackets or things that would not fit in a drawer. Other than that, the room was pretty bare. She collapsed onto soft futon and was out in a flash.

When she regained consciousness that afternoon, she just laid in the bed for a while. She felt around the area and wondered if it had ever held two people. She could not remember if there ever was a time that someone slept over her house. She had always slept alone.

"Stop thinking about it, Kim," the redhead ordered herself.

She crawled out of bed and went in search of something that could be consumed; anything would do. She grabbed a bag of cookies and returned to her painting to see what she had produced after having to spend yesterday saving people from a volcano, spending time at a party with Bonnie hounding her, and watching a soccer match at her favorite bar. She had come up with something that she would not even throw in the trash because it would pollute the garbage.

"I'm getting worse at this for some reason," Kim commented as she took the picture off of her desk and she glanced at that card again.

She sighed as she looked at the card. She rubbed her chin while eyeing that damning card. It would be nice to go out with someone … but, why should she pay for it? Surely she could go and find … no, she knew that she could not do that. She had no idea where to begin looking for a girl to go out with.

"What the hell kind of lazy lesbian am I?" Kim asked herself. _How in the hell did I ever get a girl in the past?_

The redhead decided that since she could do anything, she could go out and find a date that she would not have to pay to go out with. She took a shower, threw on her usual clothes, and went out into the street determined to find someone to spend sometime with that was not Bonnie or Josh. Surely, it could not be that hard.

Okay, maybe she could be wrong. She returned home that night all alone, like she did every night. She could not believe it; _am I really so pathetic when it comes to finding a date?_ It was not so much that she was pathetic, but she honestly did not want to date someone that thought she was famous or that was a fan of hers. She just wanted someone normal that she could hang out with, like go to a bar and watch a soccer match or something like that. She guessed that she should have taken Bonnie up on all of those blind dates before it came to her being handed a card. She could not call Bonnie and request a hook up now that she had given her that card.

Well, maybe she should just use the card if she was really that lonely. _But, am I really that lonely? No, I can get along great on my own_, she mentally insisted. She had been getting along rather well on her own. She needed some alone time, anyway.

After all, her day was full of running around for other people, saving the world or things of that nature. When she did have a spare moment, she usually spent it working on a manuscript since her books were what paid the bills. The books meant going to book signings and such to prompt the books. Then, of course, there were the parties that she had to go to for whatever reasons. So, she needed to spend some time alone, preferably getting some painting done.

So, it was decided, she was not that lonely. Yet, she continued to look at that card and think on why Bonnie had given it to her. Before she knew it, she was holding the card and contemplating dialing the number. The only thing stopping her now was the fact that she had never done anything like what she was thinking. It was illegal, after all.

_It would probably be awk-weird anyway_. _I mean seriously, how many escort services really catered to lesbians? They definitely stick to guys._ Well, Bonnie said it was safe and although she could be a mega-super-bitch, she would not lie to Kim about such a thing. _She's not that evil_. Bonnie truly thought that Kim needed to get laid immediately if not sooner. She had actually once told Kim, she would fuck her herself and she never did clarify if she was joking or not. Kim took it as a joke because Bonnie said all kinds of crazy things if she had enough liquor in her.

Kim took a deep breath and decided to dial the number on the card. Her heart raced as soon as she pressed the final number. She was not sure what to say and she was tempted to hang up before someone picked up. She nearly did jump out of her skin when someone did answer and she did not get any better as the conversation began.

The redhead fumbled through everything. Her cheeks burned hot from embarrassment because of what she was doing, especially since she really did not know what she was doing. It did not seem like much to the person on the other line. It was just business as usual apparently. The discussion seemed to take a million years to Kim and she literally sweated through the whole thing. She was so happy to get off of the phone when it was over.

-8-8-8-8-

Betty hung up the phone and looked down at all of the information that she had just received. She was wary of new clients, but she could tell from the call that there was nothing to worry about. She had never heard a person sound so nervous before. She picked up the phone again and hit the speed dial.

"Yo."

"I have a new one for you," Betty informed her employee.

"Not tonight, I hope. I'm all in after this."

"No, I set it for next week. I'll tell you about it later, but it's a girl."

There was a snort. "If it's a girl with money, I'm in."

"I figured you'd say that. Just make it memorable. We could always use new blood in here," the one-eyed woman commented.

"I agree, but then again, I'm just fucking greedy. Oh, I got get going. This fucker is coming back."

"You are rude as hell. I don't see why they put up with you."

"Because they're dumb fuckers and they like it when I tell them that."

Betty laughed a bit and she hung up the phone again. She was not too sure if she could trust that one with the shy girl that had just called. She might be too tough on the girl, but then again, she was the only one willing to go with just about anybody willing to pay her price. She also trusted her with any new clients; she broke people in rather well.

-*-(New day)-*-

Shego checked her makeup once again, even though she knew that it was perfect. She had a bad habit of checking herself over several times before a date. She wondered about the person that she was meeting. A girl she had been told that was so nervous over the phone that it was surprise that she did not just hang up in the middle of it all.

She did not think too much of it, but they got to where she was meeting the girl, she started thinking a bit more. They pulled up to the Triple S bar. She looked around and then turned her attention to her driver.

"Will, are you sure this is the place?" Shego inquired.

"This is the address she gave me," Will answered while looking down at his notepad. He always wrote things down to make sure that he got everything right. It never occurred to him that it might not be the brightest thing to do, recording everything, when he did something that was not legal. But, Shego figured that was Betty's problem and not hers, so she did not anything about it.

Shego shrugged and she got out of the car. She looked around and spotted someone. She made a face of disbelief as the person turned to her.

"You?" Shego asked the familiar redhead that had been so rude to her that night at the Triple S.

"You?" Kim could not believe it. She was beyond embarrassed now. She was turning a whole new shade of red because she was so mortified. Obviously, she had offended the gods of irony at some point in time.

"This is shocking, Princess," Shego remarked with a taunting smirk as she walked over to Kim. The slender hero began to feel worse as she noticed the expression.

"Look … I think … This is a mistake," Kim muttered, shaking her head and backing up some, possibly to make a run for it.

"Don't worry, Princess. I'll be real gentle with you," the pale woman seemed to taunt Kim. She even reached out and caressed Kim's cheek.

"No, never mind," Kim said and she backed away even more.

Shego chuckled a bit; the redhead was totally adorable. She was pretty sure that she was going to like the date and she was going to make sure that Kim did too. She grabbed for Kim's hand to stop her flight. Kim looked down out at the ground since she now could not get away. She doubted that she would ever feel so bad again in all of her life.

"Don't worry, Princess. It's not a mistake. I'm yours for the night and I'll behave," Shego promised, purring slightly.

"Actually, I think we should just forget about it. I don't even know what to do," Kim informed the pale woman.

"We do whatever you want to do," Shego replied.

"Right," Kim muttered, scratching the top of her head. She did not know what she wanted to do. She was not sure why she had decided to go through with such a thing. _I should have never made that stupid phone call_.

"We could go to your place," Shego suggested.

Kim laughed a bit; _yeah, right_. She was not about to have someone over at her place, especially a stranger. It was not that it was messed up, aside from some clothes on the floor. It was just that her home was bare. There was nothing at her place to entertain more than herself.

"All right, well, then where do you want to go?" Shego inquired, sounding more normal than sensual as she figured that oozing sexuality might send Kim running for the hills.

Kim shrugged. "I never really thought about it. Do you want to just walk around?" she asked.

"Hey, it's up to you," the emerald-eyed woman replied with a casual shrug.

"Well, you're here, too," the redhead pointed out.

Shego smiled a bit; _yes, this kid is too cute_. She stepped back over to the car that she came in and informed Will that she would be walking around for a while, so he could go on his way. He tried to protest, but she reminded him that she could take care of herself. He knew that to be a fact, so he let her go. It was wise to let her go.

So, Shego walked off with Kim. They were quiet for a while and stood as far apart as possible without one of them walking in the street. Shego was having a good time taking in the sight of the coy, little redhead. She was a bit surprised that the girl was her date for the night, but she was far from apprehensive about it.

"So … sorry about the other night," Kim apologized with a sheepish smile.

"It's cool. You were trying to watch your match and everything," Shego replied.

"Still, I shouldn't have bitten your head off about it. You were just being nice."

"It's all right. So, what do you with yourself?" the pale woman inquired.

"Depends on what hour it is," Kim answered with a bit of a laugh.

Shego smiled because of the answer; she liked the kid so far. They continued on and she continued to prod for information, trying to make Kim more comfortable and succeeding. It took a few minutes, but eventually, Kim was all right with at least being around Shego. They were walking a bit closer than when they started out.

They learned some things about each other that helped ease Kim's nerves. Shego asked some questions about soccer to keep things going. She did not really care for the sport, but she knew that Kim did. Shego did explain that she did not much love for any mainstream sports.

"What do you like?" Kim asked.

"Sports?" Shego inquired.

"Yeah, what kinda sports?" the redhead inquired.

"Well, the popular sports I like doing are extreme sports, but I don't really watch sports. Sometimes, I watch boxing if I'm in the mood or karate if it comes on," the raven-haired woman answered.

"I like extreme sports, too. I like 'blading mostly, but I'll snowboard if I'm in the mountains and I'm always skydiving," Kim said with a smile.

"You are an interesting little thing, Princess," Shego commented with a genuine smile. She would not mind getting to know such a fascinating kid. "I don't think I've ever met a girl like you. What else do you like getting mixed up in?"

Kim shrugged and talked about her martial arts. Shego hopped right into that conversation since she, too, was a martial artist. They seemed to enjoy that, talking about the styles that they used and their favorite moves. They compared their forms and even went so far as to show each other their stances. The talk dominated their time together until it started getting a bit chilling out. Shego did not really notice, but she did see Kim rubbing her arms with the hope of keeping warm.

"Maybe we should go to your place now," Shego suggested.

"Um … that's okay," Kim said. A blush stained her cheeks and her eyes strayed to the ground.

"What do you mean that's okay?" the pale woman inquired with an arched eyebrow. She would have thought that she had been brought in for a night fun and not a night of wandering the city.

"I had fun. We could end it here," the girl said.

"Or we could go back to your place," Shego replied. There was no way she was going to let the redhead without putting it on the kid. It would at least guarantee some business thrown her way.

"You know, it's all right. I mean, I was just a little lonely and now I'm not anymore, so it's cool," Kim objected.

"No, it's not. So, where do you live?" Shego inquired.

"No—" Kim tried object.

"Princess, tell me where you live or I'll just pick your pocket," Shego informed the girl, folding her arms across her chest.

"You'll what?" the redhead asked in disbelief.

Shego reached for Kim's pocket, but the slim hero dodged. The pale woman could not help laughing as she went after Kim again. Apparently, the kid was not all talk. They danced for a while and Shego noted that the kid was quite flexible. She was actually happy that she not only met Kim, but also she would get to play with her.

"You are good, kid," Shego noted. "But, I think I might be better," she remarked as she waved Kim's wallet in her face.

"What the hell?" Kim patted down her pockets. She could not believe it.

"So, I guess we're going to your place now," Shego laughed.

Kim sighed in defeat; it would seem that they were going to her apartment now. She led the way while Shego held her wallet hostage. She warned that her apartment was not really "user friendly," but Shego was not hearing it.

They stepped in and Shego began looking around. _Oh, so the kid's the artsy, bohemian type. That's cool_. She saw a desk and paints under a row of lights. She went to inspect that while Kim wondered what the hell she was supposed to do.

"You paint?" Shego asked.

"Sometimes," Kim answered.

"What kind of work do you do?" the pale woman inquired.

"At the moment, nothing." The apartment owner shrugged.

Shego nodded and then she turned her attention to Kim. She stalked over to the redhead like a charging lioness. She grabbed Kim by the back of the head and forcefully kissed the smaller female. She knew that she had to take charge or Kim would have just stood there looking lost all night. She made sure to draw the kiss out and she did not stop until Kim was kissing her back.

"So, where's your bed?" Shego inquired.

"We don't need to do this," Kim replied, panting and flushed.

Shego only laughed; _this girl is just too adorable_. She lifted Kim into her arms and walked toward the sheets hanging from the ceiling. She guessed that was where the bed was because it was the only area that was closed off. She started a new kiss on the way there and discovered that she had guessed right. She put Kim down on the bed and it was time to give the kid a bang for her buck.

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: Kim and Shego meet again, but not how Shego expects.


	3. Time to play

I don't own these characters.

3: Time to play

Kim groaned as she woke up from a heavy sleep, which was very unlike her. She was typically a light-sleeper, but since last night was not a typically night, she could understand why she had not had a typical sleep. She supposed that it had not been such a bad thing to use that card, although it was going to cost her.

"I can't believe I did that," Kim muttered, rubbing her eyes as if that would make the whole thing a little less surreal.

"You can't believe you did what?" Shego asked and Kim turned to look at her with a wide-eyed expression of complete and utter shock.

"You're still here?" the redhead inquired in a surprise tone. She figured that Shego would have skipped out since she fell asleep.

"Of course. I told you, you got me for the night. It's still night," the pale woman answered while pointing out the window. It was not good business to leave a client after the person fell asleep because if the client woke up and noticed that she was gone before the time was up, she might not get another call from that client.

"So it is," the slender hero mumbled as she looked outside.

"So, you ready to play some more?" Shego inquired with an almost evil smirk.

"I might be played out," Kim replied with a yawn. She was not used to so much activity in one night going on in a bed.

"Nonsense," the green-skinned female commented while reaching over and grabbing the redhead. She did not have to reach far because Kim's bed was not wide by any stretch of the imagination. She crawled on top of the younger female.

"Why are you doing this? Why didn't you just cut out while I was asleep?" Kim asked with her forehead furrowed.

"Do you have something against good sex? I'd say you're frigid, but I know that isn't true considering how you acted not even an hour ago. So, what's your problem?" Shego inquired in a curious tone.

"Um …" Kim did not have an answer really. She supposed that she was just against the idea of paying someone to have sex with her. It just did not seem right to her on several different levels. It did not help matters that it was illegal, too.

"Just lie back and let me work, Princess," Shego remarked.

That was the problem there, Kim realized. She was just a job for Shego. It did not help ease her loneliness. If anything it made her feel more alone and pathetic. She had wasted money on something that had not really done anything for her except put someone in her bed for the night. It was not fulfilling and as she thought about it, it took all of the fun out of what was going on.

"What's wrong, Princess?" Shego asked as she felt the younger woman tense underneath her. She could see that the girl was having issues with something and she did not want that. All she wanted was for the redhead to focus on her and the wild ride that she was going to take Kim on again.

"Nothing," Kim lied.

"Something. It's all right, you know. I'm here for you," the pale woman said.

Kim looked skeptical on that. She bet that it was something Shego said to all of her clients. Shego began working to get that look out of Kim's olive eyes. She wanted Kim to believe that she was there for her and everything was all right. She reminded Kim about the great walk that they had had and how comfortable they were with each other, which seemed to help Kim.

The redhead began participating in what Shego started. They kissed while limbs intertwined and Shego could tell from the kiss that Kim was feeling more comfortable with everything. It was good being with Kim and she was willing to bet that the kid would give her a call again.

Shego left the loft apartment to go home when the sun began to rise. She was very confident that she had left the client totally satisfied and she fully expected to get a call from the girl again. That did not happen, amazingly enough. She did not hear from Kim again.

-*-(New day)-*-

Kim groaned and turned her attention away from her computer screen. She rubbed her eyes with vigor, almost as if she was trying to get them out of her head. She was sick of looking at the screen. She was sick of writing, even if it did pay the bills.

"If only I could do some painting," she mumbled, glancing over at her canvases.

Her muse still had not hit the redhead when it came to her painting. She suspected that her muse abandoned her long ago considering the crap that she had been putting together. She could barely look at her desk anymore when it came to painting. She was so frustrated with it.

Her writing was not helping. She was not the greatest storyteller on the planet and she was more than aware of that. She was pretty good at telling an account of something that actually happened to her, but fictionalizing it was a bit difficult for her. Thankfully, she had an editor that could help her out with that, but only after she got the barebones of the story down. It would be nice if people only wanted to read about her real adventures, but they liked the embellished ones just as much and, at the moment, she was trying to over-exaggerate some of her latest adventures and she was not having much luck at it.

Kim had trouble making things up for her stories because she hardly knew what was unbelievable anymore. She had been doing the so-called impossible for so many years and saw things that most people would not believe almost daily, so she had no clue what was outrageous anymore. It really was not as hard as she thought it was because what was mundane to her was beyond bizarre for most people, which was why they read her books.

"I'm living in my own head too much. I need a break," Kim decided.

The slender hero threw on some street clothes and her sneakers. She walked outside and traveled the short distance to the Triple S. She figured that she might be able to catch a soccer match. She was always thankful that the Seniors had cable in their bar and they got a channel that showed football all day long. It was sometimes tempted Kim go out and buy a television with some cable, but she supposed that it would be a waste when she could always just go to the Triple S and watch games to her heart's content.

The tavern was not crowded considering that it was only the early afternoon. Kim greeted Senor Senior Senior and his son with polite smiles. They returned the greetings with waves toward her.

"I'll get you a drink," the old man said to Kim.

"Thank you, sir," she replied while going to the perfect booth to view the large television.

"You know England and Germany are playing today," Senor Senior Senior informed Kim as he sat a large glass of cola in front of her.

"Really? Now or later?" she asked in a very interested voice.

"Later, much later. If you are still here, we can watch it together," he proposed in a friendly manner.

"All right, sir. Thanks so much for the soda."

"No need to thank me. Enjoy your match," he said.

She gave him that bright smile of hers again. He continued to bring her soda through out the day and she just quietly watched her matches. After an hour, he brought her a plate of fries that she did not order, but thanked him for just the same. He genuinely liked the girl because she was a good kid as far as he could tell, so every now and then, he gave her a free drink or free fries. She was the only customer that he had ever done such a thing for.

The redhead remained where she was, watching a game and sipping her soda, as more customers began coming in. She was not usually around the Triple S when it was popping with people looking to unwind after a long day's work or things of that nature. Her very strange hours kept her moving about, so she did not often see just how crowded the place got.

"Hey, what's this shit?" a guy huffed when he noticed what was on one of the televisions, namely soccer.

"Yo, turn to a real game," another guy shouted and as they were going to change the channel, Kim spoke up.

"Leave it," the redhead ordered.

"Shut up. We're not watching no shitty soccer game," the first guy informed her.

"I was here first," Kim stated.

"Who gives a fuck," the second male countered.

"Don't change the channel," the young woman commanded.

"Shut the hell up," a third guy said.

The noise from that one side of the bar attracted the attention of other patrons. One of the people that noticed the commotion was a certain green-skinned call girl. She looked over to see what those apes were going on about and caught sight of who was at the center of the controversy, the adorable redhead.

"The kid's got balls," Shego muttered because Kim was barking at some rather large guys over a soccer game as if they were little kids.

She smiled a bit because she was amused and impressed with the girl. _That kid really is something else_. She then turned her attention to Senor Senior Senior.

"Hey, old man, you don't come to her defense when a gang of fuck-heads are harassing her, but if I go near her, you act like it's a crime," Shego commented, motioning over to the dispute.

"Well, they are paying customers," the old man replied with a shrug.

"You are quite the dick," Shego stated as if it was a stone cold fact.

"I'm surprised she's still here actually," the bar owner commented. He thought that Kim would have left hours ago and then returned later on that night, but it seemed that he had been wrong.

"So the hell what? You're just going to let them fuck her over and turn from her game?" she inquired.

"They are paying customers," he repeated.

Shego frowned. For some reason, she was very pissed about his attitude toward the whole thing. The girl was not bothering anyone and she really just wanted to sit there and watch some football. The guys needed to just leave her alone, especially since they were in the bar to get drunk and forget their troubles more than likely. They continued yelling at her and fighting with her over control of the television. Kim did not back down.

The pale woman watched the scene for a bit longer, just to see how Kim would handle everything. The redhead maintained her composer, but she did not back down from the argument. The guys were riling her up, though. Shego just found herself entranced with the kid as she fought and fought with the group, which was growing by the minute. By the time Kim lost the battle, she had been hollering at close to twenty dudes.

The olive-eyed hero frowned as they changed from her match. She was tempted to just beat the crap out of all of them, but that would not be the right way to solve the problem, she told herself. Not to mention that would not be good press for her. So, she fumed for a moment. She would finish her soda and then go back home. She had work that she needed to get to anyway.

"That was quite the show, Princess," Shego commented as she seemed to appear behind Kim.

"What the hell?" the redhead nearly jumped out of her skin. She could not recall the last time that someone had managed to sneak up on her.

"That's a fine greeting for a friend," the pale woman said with a smirk.

"You're not my friend," Kim replied.

"Wow, a person that gives you an orgasm isn't your friend? It must be hard to make it on your friendship list," Shego remarked, still smirking like a demon.

"What do you want?" Kim inquired.

"You don't seem to like me much," the moss-hued female commented.

"No," Kim sighed and held up her hands in surrender. "Look, I'm really sorry for being rude to you, again," the slim hero apologized.

"It's quite all right. You're too cute for me to get really mad at. So, how come you haven't called me? I thought we had a good time," Shego said while reaching out and caressing Kim's cheek.

"I can't afford it," the redhead mumbled.

It was the truth. She just could not afford to call Shego again. She thought about it, she really did. It had been a fantastic night and it stayed on her mind ever since it took place. At the moment, she could not afford a repeat. She did not really have the time for it, anyway; or that was what she told herself whenever the temptation to call was weighing down on her.

She also told herself that it was not the answer to her loneliness to fight the temptation in calling. Hiring a companion was a temporary cure to anything bothering her and she did not think that was good for her. Thoughts like that kept her money in her pocket, which was where she believed it needed to be.

"Oh, that is too bad," Shego said. She supposed that it made sense that an artsy kid like Kim seemed to be could not afford her services often.

"Yeah," Kim mumbled.

"So, what are you going to do now that you can't watch your little game?" the green-skinned woman inquired.

"I don't know. Go home and stare at my computer for the rest of the night, I guess," the redhead answered with a shrug.

"Whoa, swinging night," Shego remarked sarcastically, twirling her finger in the air. "How about you come to my house? I've got cable and everything."

"What?" Kim asked in disbelief.

Shego could not believe what she said either, but she never backed down once she put something out there. Because of that attitude, she typically did not speak so impulsively, but there she was. So, she made her offer once again.

"Come on, I've got snacks too," the raven-haired woman offered with a surprisingly warm smile.

Kim rubbed her head. She probably should get home; that story was not going to write itself, after all. But, the story was also getting on her nerves. She just wanted to relax a bit and she would like to see how the match ended.

"I'll watch the match and then I'll get out of your hair," Kim promised.

"Oh, I hoping you would get in my hair," Shego remarked and then she noticed the younger female shift uncomfortably. "Or, you could just watch the match and leave unmolested," the pale woman stated.

"I won't be annoying or rude," the redhead vowed.

"Well, that is good to know," Shego quipped with a smile.

Kim wondered what she was getting herself into since she was leaving with a smart-mouth prostitute it would seem. She left with Shego, anyway, because she really wanted to see the match. The green-skinned female did not live too far from the bar, but it was a world away from Kim from the look of the place.

"Swank," Kim muttered as they went into the building. There was a doorman and everything.

"Impressed?" Shego asked when she noticed the girl looking around.

Kim did not respond and they went up to Shego's apartment. The slim hero was amazed once again when she entered the place. The floors were tiled to look like black marble. There was a bar in the corner, a flat screen television on the wall, a leather sofa, and a huge entertainment set. Kim's jaw would have hit the floor if it were possible.

"Make your comfortable, kid," Shego said.

Kim nodded and she went to sit on the sofa. Shego turned on the television for her and the redhead found the channel that had her match on it. She folded her legs underneath her and quietly watched the game. Shego quietly watched her guest.

The pale woman could not believe how incredibly cute she really thought the girl was. There was something about the kid, mostly the fact that she seemed a bit off. She was obviously not a regular girl and that seemed to catch Shego better than wiggling worms caught fish. She eventually sat down with Kim to see what the big deal was about soccer. She carried snacks with her.

"Want some?" Shego offered the girl some popcorn.

"Please and thank you," Kim replied while taking a hand full of popcorn.

Shego smiled a bit; it was a fond expression. She was not used to dealing with someone so polite and it was a nice change. She turned her attention to the television and watched the game. As she expected, the match bored her. She just was not into sports. But, it was fascinating watching Kim watch the game.

Kim was a composed fan. She watched the game more like a movie, but it was clear when she was cheering or when she liked a move. The girl leaned forward whenever her team charged toward the goal or whenever the opposing team took a shot at her team's goal. Her eyes widened with hope whenever her team had a kick at the goal. Her mouth opened ever so slightly whenever someone made an impressive move. Shego learned all of this in one half of football.

"I'm going to order up some dinner. You want anything special?" Shego asked her guest.

Kim only shook her head; she was actually declining on dinner altogether. She was not looking to impose on the woman who was nice enough to let her watch her match. So, she was shocked when she was given a box of Chinese food.

"What the?" Kim said in a shocked tone as the food landed in her lap.

"You said you didn't want anything special, right?" Shego asked.

"Oh, thank you very much," Kim said.

"You sure are a polite little princess if given the chance," the pale woman commented.

"I'm really sorry about how rude I was to you. Sometimes, I just let things get to me," the redhead tried to explain.

"It's cool. I understand. What's with you and soccer?" Shego asked curiously.

"It's just my sport. Some people like baseball, some like basketball, some football, and all the others. I like soccer," the girl answered with a shrug.

The moss-hued female accepted that because it made sense. She and Kim ate their dinner while a new match came on. Kim got wrapped in that game while Shego busied herself with watching her guest.

Once Shego was done with her food, she decided that she was bored. She understood that her guest would just zone out on soccer all night, which she was not for at all. With such a cute guest, there was only one thing on her mind, but she knew that the kid was apprehensive about things. Maybe she could loosen the girl up, she considered.

"You want a drink?" the hostess offered.

"No thanks. I'm not old enough," Kim said.

"So, you're not going to drink because it's illegal is what you're telling me?" Shego asked in a bit of a skeptical tone.

"That's right," the redhead answered.

"Okay, so you don't drink because it's illegal, but you called me that night and what, thought that this was Nevada?" Shego inquired.

"No …" Kim was not sure how to explain that illegal action. She did not want to spill her guts out to the older woman, anyway.

"Let me get you a drink."

"Root beer, if you have any, please," Kim requested.

Shego laughed a bit and agreed. Sure, she could get the kid a root beer and maybe a little something more. She prepared the drink and gave it to Kim. The redhead only needed to sip it to find that she did not like it.

"You spiked the drink," Kim accused Shego.

"I just wanted to broaden your horizons. You don't like it?" the pale woman inquired.

"Not really."

"Then I'll get you a regular root beer. Hang tight."

Kim looked skeptical on that, but the next drink that she had tasted fine. She finished it and continued paying attention to her game. Shego sighed; she really just wanted to get the kid in her bed and she was going to have her way.

Shego practically pounced on Kim out of the blue; well, it was out of the blue as far as the little hero was concerned. The raven-haired woman started a kiss while Kim tried to protest what was going on. The redhead also tried to push Shego off of her, which caused Shego to stop.

"What's wrong, Princess?" the green-skinned woman asked in a confused tone. She had never met someone so reluctant to sleep with her.

"I'm not here for this," Kim answered.

"But, you want it," Shego stated.

"No, I want to go home."

"You know, you are just about the most perplexing kid I have ever met. Why don't you want to do this?" Shego asked.

Kim looked away, but Shego was not going to have that. She gently demanded her answer once more. She wanted to know why the kid did not want to sleep with her. It was not like they had a bad experience before.

"I can't afford it," the redhead whispered while continuing to look away.

Shego smiled a bit as if she was amused and started caressing Kim's right side. The younger woman wondered what was so funny since it looked like her host was laughing at her mentally. She could not afford another night with Shego.

"You're a guest in my home. This one's on me," the emerald-eyed female commented.

"What?" Kim seemed as if she did not understand.

"Tonight, we're just a host and her guest, capping off the evening."

Kim seemed skeptical on that, but she did not object when Shego began kissing her again. Kim could not help it; she liked the attention. She liked being wanted; hey, she was only human.

Shego practically plundered Kim's mouth with her tongue and her gentle caress quickly became more fervent. She then hooked Kim's legs around her waist, so that she could lift the redhead up. She made sure to keep up the deep kiss and carried Kim toward her bedroom. She hoped that the kid was open-minded.

Shego's bedroom was decorated black, just like her living room. She had some toys lying around her room, like a few pairs of handcuffs. She doubted that Kim would go for the cuffs; she could just tell that about the kid considering how stubborn she was about everything else.

"So, Princess, you up for a little fun?" Shego asked as she lowered the redhead to the bed.

"Fun?" Kim echoed.

"I've got quite a few things around here for us to play with. Want to play with me?" Shego asked with a twisted smile.

"Play with you? Like what?" Kim inquired with some curiosity, but also some confusion. She did not associate the word "play" with anything adult really, so she did not know what her hostess might have had in mind.

"All sorts of things. Play with me, Princess," Shego requested in a seductive whispered and she placed a small peck on her guest's lips.

Kim hesitated because she did not know what Shego was talking about. The pale woman leaned down and began kissing Kim's neck while repeating her request over and over again. Kim ended up nodding her agreement and Shego smirked against that soft, peach flesh. They were going to get to play and she was going to make sure that it was fun.

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: Kim and Shego get closer and they attend a party together. The catch is that Kim has to pay for it.


	4. Party favors

I don't own these characters. I don't own pop-tarts either … I feel like I've said that before. Weird that I would have to state twice that I don't own pop-tarts.

4: Party favors

Kim yawned as she stirred from her sleep. She moved to rub her eyes, but found that only one hand made it. She opened her eyes and looked to her side to see why her other hand was not reaching her face. She caught sight of her wrist, which was just above her head, and saw that it was bound. _That explains why it feels kinda numb_. She groaned and turned to her other side to wake up the one person that could free her.

"Shego," Kim said while shaking the pale woman.

"Go back to sleep, Princess," Shego muttered without bothering to open her eyes.

"Shego, you left me cuffed."

"Hmm?"

Kim shook her a little more. "The cuffs, they're still on."

"Huh? Oh!" Shego finally realized what the girl was trying to tell her. "Sorry about that, Princess."

The raven-haired woman reached over and retrieved the key to the restraints. She handed it to Kim and let the redhead free herself. The pale female went back to sleep immediately while Kim got out of bed, Shego's bed.

For the few months that they had known each other, they had worked themselves in to an odd little relationship, not that Shego would call it that. It started with Shego allowing Kim to come over to watch her cable because the redhead was seriously addicted to soccer. The emerald-eyed woman did not mind Kim's presence because she really liked the kid. Kim would always be her polite little adorable self and Shego would just get the urge to pounce her after a while.

There was something about the petite redhead that got to Shego. The older woman would not admit to anything beyond a physical attraction to the redhead, but it seemed like more. She was nice to Kim, nicer than she had ever been to anyone else. She wanted the kid to always be comfortable in her presence. So, maybe there was something there beyond the fact that she believed Kim was cute and she wanted to screw Kim's brains out all the time, although that was fun.

The pale woman had slowly gotten Kim into some things that the younger female probably never would have thought to do on her on, like the handcuff thing. Oh, that took a long time to get Kim try and she would still only do one hand. Shego liked to joke that there were some trust issues there, but it was not really a joke. Kim obviously was a suspicious person and she did not want to be bound for any reason really.

Shego understood why the petite artist was like that once she found out some of the things that Kim did during the day. Kim spent a lot of time tied up and it was always for something sinister, so she could see why Kim would be apprehensive about such things. It was all right, though. The redhead was adventurous at least and that made up for any mistrust that she had, especially since she still let Shego strap her down every now and then.

The slender redhead wandered out to the kitchen and grabbed herself something to drink. She continued to rub one eye with the palm of her hand; Shego thought that was utterly adorable when she witnessed it. She then glanced at the cable to see what time it and saw that it was two in the afternoon. She had gotten five hours of sleep, which was pretty good for her. Once she was done with her juice, she went back to the bedroom and began gathering her clothes. She got dressed and then went over to Shego.

"Hey, I'm gonna go home now," she whispered. It was like she did not want to wake the older woman up, but she did want to bid her farewell.

"Huh?" Shego said, showing that she was at least halfway awake, but Kim doubted that she would remember the conversation.

"I'm going home," the younger female repeated.

"All right," the pale woman agreed and Kim was about to just leave, but she felt a hand on hers. She turned back Shego.

"Yeah?"

"Where's my goodbye kiss?" the green-skinned woman inquired quite seriously, even though her voice was a little groggy.

"Oh, yeah." Kim laughed a bit and she went to give Shego a kiss, which woke the pale woman up completely for the moment.

It was a long kiss that would probably be categorized as "dirty" if anyone else saw it. Their strange relationship would probably fall into that same section if anyone ever saw them together when Shego started things up. But, the green-skinned woman could give less than a damn about what other people thought. The only person that mattered was her "Princess," but no one better dare claim that she was in a relationship with Kim.

The slim hero exited Shego's apartment once the kiss was finished and returned to her own. She still spent about as much time at home now as she did before she was going over Shego's place to watch football. The only difference was that she got her couple of hours sleep in a different bed on a few nights.

She glanced at her computer and then she glanced at her art desk. _Hmm, work or paint?_ It was the eternal struggle of what she would rather be annoyed with. Much of the time, she was saved by a mission to avoid having to make that decision, but as the seconds ticked away, she got the feeling that she would have to pick one.

Now, work was work. It paid the bills and kept pop-tarts and peanut butter in her stomach. It was also irksome to do if she did not have a rhythm or flow of some kind. She would just stare at the screen and burn her poor eyes if she did not know what she wanted to write or if she did not know how to explain a situation that she had been in.

Then there was painting, the silent killer. She could go and spend her time creating and end up with junk like the last time she tried. _Maybe the magic has worn off_ _and it's time to move on. But, I still feel the itch to paint_. It would be a waste of time, paint, and energy. It was still more promising than work. Painting it was.

-*-(New day)-*-

Kim padded herself down as she could hear the familiar beeping of the Kimmunicator, but the device did not seem to be in her pocket as usual. She scratched her head in confusion and began trying to track the sound. She eventually discovered the communication device in her kitchen, in the refrigerator. Even Kim now wondered where the hell her head was sometimes because, really, how the hell did the Kimmunicator get in the fridge?

"Oh, I must have put it there by accident when I was putting the milk back," the redhead figured as she finally answered the call. She hoped someone was not in immediate danger or her little mistake might prove costly for the person. "What's the sitch?" she answered the device.

"Where the hell have you been?" Bonnie demanded in an angry tone with a touch of worry underneath.

"Oh, hey, Bonnie," Kim said, totally ignoring the question posed to her.

"Don't you dare 'oh, hey' me like everything's fine. Where the hell have you been? This thing rang for-fucking-ever," the turquoise-eyed female complained.

"Yeah, I misplaced it. What's going on?"

"I just want to make sure you remember the party tonight."

"Party?" Obviously from the bewildered sound in her voice, Kim had forgotten. She was lucky that Bonnie could not see her scratching her head.

"Yes, the party. Damn it, we only go to a party at least once a fucking month," Bonnie huffed. Why was she cursed with such a bizarre best friend? It was enough that she had to worry about her laidback boyfriend, but with Kim added to the mix, she thought that she should get a medal for still being sane.

"Right, the party," Kim said. It was coming back to her now. She had it marked down and everything. She just had not recalled before because it was not very important to her.

"Yes, the party. Be there on time, be dressed somewhat appropriately, and goddamn it, try to show up with someone," Bonnie ordered.

"Um … okay," the redhead agreed.

"What the hell do you mean 'okay'?" the tanned female inquired in a suspicious tone. She really did not trust anything that came out of Kim's mouth anymore. It seemed like everything had a double meaning.

"I mean, okay. Geez, Bonnie, calm down. You need to relax."

"How can I relax when I have to baby you and Josh? You two need to grow up already and take things more seriously and be more responsible about your professional lives," the dancer huffed.

"And you need to wind down before you turn your hair grey," the hero replied.

"There'll be plenty of time for me to do that when the two of you are dead, but until then, just do what I said. You never know, you might get a patron for your painting or something," Bonnie said.

Kim conceded that point because Bonnie was right. It felt good when she sold painting, so she should make an effort to do that. She supposed that Bonnie was right on all fronts, so she would try to do what her friend recommended. The first thing was to see if she could get a date. She called Shego.

"Hey, Princess," Shego greeted the redhead.

"Hey, Shego, I was wondering if you'd like to come with me to a party tonight," Kim informed the pale woman. It seemed like the right thing to do since she and Shego spent so much time together.

"Oh, tonight?" the green-skinned female echoed.

"Yes, tonight."

"Sorry, Princess, that's a no-can-do there. I'm working tonight," the older woman replied.

"Oh," Kim said. She sounded so disappointed and Shego could picture her pouting, which she was doing.

"Well, I could break my date, but you'd have to pay me to come with you because I'm expected to collect tonight," Shego said. If she thought about it, she would not believe that she had just suggested that she would break a date to be with someone else, but she did not think about it.

"Pay you?" the redhead said incredulously. She had not paid Shego for anything since their first date, as Shego called them.

"Yes, pay me. I am an escort, after all," the raven-haired woman stated.

"Shego, we both know I can't afford that right now," Kim pointed out. A date with Shego cost way too much money for a starving artist like herself, even if she was a semi-famous author. She had rent to pay, food to buy, and other things.

"Well, I don't do dates on credit, but I suppose I could give you a little discount. We just have to keep it between you and me," the pale woman proposed. She would rather spend her evening with Kim than with her client and she did not need the money _that_ badly. So, she would take out Betty's amount and charge Kim that, so she would not have to hear the one-eyed woman's mouth.

"A discount?" the girl echoed in a puzzled tone.

"Yes, a discount. So, what time is this little shindig?" Shego inquired.

"It's not a little shindig."

"Well, then, tell me more," Shego requested in an interested voice.

-8-8-8-8-

Kim arrived at Shego's apartment to pick her up for the party. She knocked and the pale green woman opened the door. Shego was going to say something, but as soon as the redhead came into the apartment, she was at a loss for words.

"Princess, what the fuck are you wearing?" Shego inquired in disbelief.

"They were called clothes the last time I checked," Kim answered, looking down at herself.

"They're called shit. You're actually going to go to a formal party dressed like that?" the green-skinned woman asked incredulously. Kim was dressed in her usual clothes; a person would think that she was walking to the corner store instead of about to go to a fancy social gathering.

"That was the idea," the redhead answered honestly.

"Bullshit. You are not going anywhere with me dressed like that, especially to the upscale social event you described. I can't believe you actually left your house like that," Shego complained. She did not know why the outfit surprised her, considering how weird Kim was. "Go sit down while I get you something good to wear."

"This is good. Come on or we'll be late," the trim hero protested. Kim was probably the only person on the planet that would not mind going to a formal party dressed in her street clothes with a gorgeous woman in her company, who was wearing a fantastic green and black dress that clung to her like a second skin with the back out. Well, maybe her and Josh.

"That's not good. That's crap. That's beyond crap. So, go sit down and wait for me to get you something that looks halfway decent," Shego ordered.

The olive-eyed artist tried to object once more, but it was not effective at all. She went to take a seat as she was commanded to do and waited for Shego to return with something worth wearing. She would have dressed better, but she lost track of time and to avoid being late, she threw on the closest thing at hand. She had to pick up Shego, after all, and it would not have been polite to be late for that.

Shego went into her closet and went through her clothes. She hoped that she had something from when she was younger still in there. She figured that Kim would be able to fit something from when she was younger and smaller because she damn sure was not going anywhere with the redhead wearing what she had on right now. She found a couple of items and brought them out to Kim.

"Pick one," Shego said as she held up two black dresses.

"Aren't they the same?" Kim asked while looking back and forth to each dress and not seeing a difference.

"For being a smart-ass, you're going to wear this one," Shego replied and she dropped the one in her right hand.

"Why?" Kim asked. Shego perplexed her to no end. She seemed to always think that she was right and knew what was best for the world. Now, Kim somewhat understood it because she used to be that way, but she was not as bad as Shego was and she was not that way with everybody.

"Because I said so. Now, go put it on," the raven-haired female commanded.

Kim sighed, but she did not argue. She needed something formal to wear anyway. She took the dress and went to change. She returned minutes later wearing the sleek little black dress. Shego smirked her approval.

"You look good, Princess. I wish I had more time to dress you because this dress, while good, does droop a bit at your cleavage, but that's fine. You still look good. Enough for me to suggest that we skip the date and just get right to the end," the pale woman remarked. She was not lying. She really would like to just forget about the party and bang Kimmie's brains out for the night. _Maybe something about Kimmie or Kimmie herself is an aphrodisiac_.

"I'd like to skip it too, but it's kind of important," Kim replied. She liked spending time with the pale woman more than she liked mingling at parties, but she might be able to get a commission or two and it would get Bonnie off of her back for a little while. Besides, her publisher loved it when she went to fancy parties and she might be able to use it as an excuse for an extension.

"Well, at least I can be sure I'll have the best looking girl there," Shego commented.

"Funny, I thought that I would have the best looking girl there," the redhead said.

Shego let a half-smile grace her face. The pair left for the party; Kim had borrowed a friend's car for the night to get to where they needed to be. They arrived at the party a little late, but it was still better than most of the times when Kim showed up to a gathering.

The pair stepped into the decorated hall and Shego was a bit impressed to see what kind of people Kim rubbed elbows with. It really was a high-class gala and she was glad that she put Kim in that dress. She could not believe that the girl even considered going to such a party in what she had been wearing before.

"Kim," Josh called as soon she stepped into the hall. He approached her and then he hid behind her. Shego watched him as he put his grubby hands on Kim's shoulders and that caused her to frown.

"Hey, Josh, what's up?" Kim asked.

"You've got to escape and take me with you. Bonnie is on the warpath," he explained in a hiss and then he noticed what she was wearing. "Hey, you actually look classy," he commented as if that were not rude.

"Thanks. You don't look so bad yourself," the redhead replied as Josh stood up to show off his fancy white suit with a golden vest.

"I had to make sure I looked all right. She was threatening me until she was blue in the face," he explained with an amused smile.

"I'll bet. Now you know why I chose not to live with her when we all moved here," Kim quipped.

"That's true, but seeing that you followed directions might actually calm her down," he said.

"Maybe," the slim adventurer agreed and she shrugged. She then recalled that Shego was at her side and she decided to introduce them. "Oh, Josh, this is Shego. Shego, this is my good friend and fellow painter, Josh," the hero said.

"And you brought a date … a hot date," Josh said as he got a good look at the raven-haired woman at Kim's side.

"I'm batting two for three tonight. This is the best I've ever done," Kim remarked with a small chuckle.

"Yeah, that's true," he agreed with a laugh of his own. "Well, since you're actually being good tonight, I'm not even going to bother you. I don't want to get you in trouble y association for whatever the hell I did." He started to step away.

"Wait, what's the room like? Any work for us?" the redhead asked.

"It's hard to tell. We could work the room together. Let me find Bonnie and let her kill me, just to get it out of the way," Josh answered.

Kim nodded and Josh scurried away. Shego watched him leave and she was glad to see him go. She would help Kim work the room. She was good at that. She might even run into a client and be able to blackmail him into giving Kim some business.

The pair moved through the party and it was clear that Shego was more at home at such a gathering than Kim was. The younger female was used to the parties, but she did not particularly like going to them two or more times a month. Shego did not appear annoyed or bothered and she mixed with everyone, mostly trying to drum up some business for herself or Kim.

"Kim, you actually look good," Bonnie said in a voice of disbelief as she came up behind her best friend.

"Yeah," Kim sort of concurred. She was not sure what else to say.

"I'm in shock. I mean, Josh said you showed up looking presentable, but I didn't believe it and here you are looking just right. I mean, almost perfect really. Wow, I'm proud of you for once," Bonnie remarked.

"Well, that's good to know," Kim said sarcastically.

"Josh also told me that you're here with someone. You have got to show me this girl," the aqua-eyed girl stated.

"Sure, no problem," the redhead easily agreed.

Kim had to look around for Shego, who had gotten away from her date the moment that she turned to talk to Bonnie. She spotted the pale woman with an older gentleman and they were sharing a drink while conversing. Kim led Bonnie over to the pair and politely interjected.

"I'm sorry to butt in, but Shego, this is my best friend Bonnie. Bonnie, this is Shego," Kim introduced the two.

"You're the one that got her in the dress more than likely," Bonnie said to Shego with a smile and she politely shook the older woman's hand.

"You just got to know how to talk to her," the pale woman commented with a lewd smirk.

"Well, I wish you luck with this headache. At least you're taking her off of my hands," the dancer remarked.

"I'm definitely glad to do that," the raven-haired female said with another suggestive smirk on her face.

Kim blushed just because of the expression on Shego's face. Bonnie left the pair alone, even though Kim knew that was not going to be the end of it. Surely, she would get a call later on from Bonnie, demanding all of the details surrounding her and Shego. But, she decided not to think about that at the moment.

The redhead stuck a bit close to Shego for the night, not that the pale woman minded. Shego noticed that Kim was rather good at parties. She especially handled annoying things, like people asking for her autograph with grace and civility. The green-skinned woman liked seeing the polite side of her princess, even though the rude side was rather cute.

-8-8-8-8-

"That was one of the better parties I've attended," Shego commented as she and Kim went into Kim's apartment.

"Yeah," Kim agreed. Something about that party did make it better than others. Maybe it was that over half of the night, she had a rather possessive arm wrapped around her waist. "Do you want anything?" the redhead inquired as she shut the door and chucked her keys just anywhere.

"What do you have beside for peanut butter and soda?" Shego teased.

"Marshmallows," Kim replied with a laugh.

"You always have a bunch of things that just don't go together," the pale woman complained.

"Marshmallows and peanut butter do go together," the redhead argued.

Shego only scoffed. Being in Kim's apartment was always a series of surprises when it came to food because she really never did have anything that went together, except maybe bread and peanut butter. She inspected a few things around the place to see if anything changed since she had shown up and she noticed a photo by Kim's art things. It was of a girl kneeling by a grave.

"Princess, what's this?" Shego inquired while pointing to the photo.

"That would be the subject for my next painting," Kim answered.

"What do you plan on doing?"

"I'm not sure. But, when I saw her that day, I had to get a shot of her and I figured that I had to paint it."

"Why do you always do such morbid work?" the pale woman asked.

"This is what catches my eye." Kim shrugged. She did not look at it as morbid. Most of her work dealt with hope, even though they showed gloomy scenes most of the time. But, there was always something light or pure in the picture, too. She liked showing that a person could go on after a tragedy, but typically in her work, people just saw the tragedy at first glance.

"You catch my eye in that dress," Shego remarked and she turned to look at Kim with a familiar glint in her eyes.

"I know that look," the redhead commented.

"I'll bet you do."

Shego went at Kim and met her in a soul-searing kiss. She groped Kim through the dress while Kim was fumbling trying to get Shego out of her dress. Shego stepped out of her gown, but made no moves to free Kim from hers.

"I think I'll keep you just like you are," Shego commented, meaning that she would leave Kim clothed.

"Well, it's your dress," Kim replied.

"And my Princess," the green-skinned woman added.

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: things seem to be getting deep between these two. Maybe a little too deep. Just what are they to each other?


	5. Too close for comfort?

I don't own these characters.

5: Too close for comfort?

Kim sat with a paintbrush in her mouth and another in her hand. She was working on a piece that she had wanted to do for a while. She had not gotten very far in it as she continued to be in a slump. She sighed.

"Maybe it's time to start looking at colleges," she considered and then she shook that thought away. "It's not a big deal. I made it this far and the piece looks decent. I just need to stay focused and it'll be all right. I'm doing good and I need to do better." The brush in her hand went back to the canvas and moved gracefully.

She actually needed to get some work done because she had been invited with Josh to showcase some pieces. It would be nice to get some praise for her art rather than her writing for once, especially since she liked the painting so much more than the writing. She suspected that she liked the painting more than the writing because it did not seem like a job, even though she occasionally made money off of her painting. Not to mention, painting was just her passion now.

"So, I need to get through this and produce something worth showing to people," she said, pressing on through her picture.

She was distracted from her piece as there was her Kimmunicator went off. She huffed; Wade had horrible timing with her missions and he probably always would. She wished that she could just ignore it, but it was probably important. She put down her brushes and went to answer the communication device. It was Wade and he did have a mission for her, so the painting was going to have to wait.

Kim hoped that she was not getting a look at how things would go for her since there was a chance for her to sell some paintings. She had no problem with doing missions, of course, but she would get annoyed if they would interfere with her art now that she had some momentum. She really wanted to get some painting done.

"So, I better get this done and out of the way, so I can come back and do some painting," she told herself and moved to change her clothes. She hoped that somehow she found her muse during the mission, which would make her painting that much easier upon her return.

-*-(New day)-*-

"Hey, Princess, what are you doing sitting out here?" Shego inquired as she stepped up to her apartment door. Kim was sitting in front of her door with her legs folded underneath, looking adorable as usual.

"I'm taking a break and I was hoping I could maybe watch some football," the redhead answered with a polite smile. She had gotten quite a bit of painting done and it felt good, so now she was just looking to relax for a moment or two before she got back into it.

"Okay, but how long have you been sitting out here?" the pale woman inquired with an arched eyebrow.

"I dunno." The younger woman shrugged. "Maybe an hour. I didn't know what time you got in, so I just came over and hoped for the best."

"Obviously that didn't work. You should've called," Shego pointed out, which earned her a cute and amused smile.

"I can't. You never gave me your home number and you didn't pick up your cell," Kim practically chirped, as if it were no big deal.

"Right," the green-skinned woman conceded. She had never given the petite hero a private number to reach her at. _Maybe I should do that, so my Princess won't have to sit in the hall if she wants to just watch some soccer. Not like she'll do anything beyond call me for my TV and the occasional crazy party. Besides, she already knows where I live_.

"So, is it all right for me to watch a game or two?" Kim requested.

"Of course. Come on in. You're going to have to be quiet, though. I'm going to go to bed when I get in," Shego explained.

Kim nodded to show that she would be very quiet, which Shego knew that she would. They entered the apartment and Kim went right to the sofa. She turned to her favorite channel and sat silently, like she always did. Shego stole a kiss from the girl and then went to her room to go to bed. It had been a long night.

The pale woman did hope that Kim would still be there when she woke up. She was not sure if she was up for much with Kim considering how tired she was, but recently, she noticed that she just liked holding the kid while they lounged on the sofa or when they were sleeping in bed. She figured Kim would be there as long as a good game was and she was right.

When Shego rose from bed late that afternoon, Kim was still sitting there on the sofa, watching football. She had come to realize why Kim vegged out on soccer like she did; it was because she did not watch it as often as it seemed. Kim used to be lucky to have time for one game every other week and even now that she could watch at Shego's house, she did not watch that often. She came over about once a week and stayed until nighttime.

"How are the games, Princess?" Shego asked as she flopped down next to Kim.

"Great. I'm glad I decided to take a break now," the redhead replied with a smile.

Shego nodded; she was glad that Kim decided to take a break now too. She had been thinking about her little Princess, who had been too busy to stop by recently it seemed. Kim had been doing a lot of running around thanks to Wade and when she was not out on missions, she was working on her paintings. Shego did not know all of the details, just knowing that Kim was up to something and was too busy for soccer.

"Come here," Shego ordered her guest, beckoning her with a crocked finger.

"Huh?" Kim asked.

"Come here," Shego repeated. Now, she motioned to herself with two fingers.

The redhead did not object and she did not take her eyes off of the screen as she crawled over to her green-skinned hostess. Shego threw her arms around Kim and held the younger woman to her. She glanced down at the petite hero on her and guessed that Kim was probably the only person on the planet that was attracted to women and failed to get turned on by what she was wearing.

Shego had come out into the living room in a black lacy teddy that stopped right at her rump and was see through for the most part. She knew that Kim would not notice, not because the kid was not attracted to her, but because the kid's mind was wired differently from most people, it seemed anyway. She liked that about Kim. She liked being around someone that was not looking to fuck her just because she was there.

"So, Princess, when're you going back home?" the emerald-eyed woman inquired, running her fingers up and down the redhead's arm. She knew the simple gesture would not be enough for her.

"When you kick me out?" Kim guessed.

"Sounds good. What were you working on, anyway?" Shego asked, a hand wandering to Kim's bare stomach and caressing the girl's flat belly.

"Paintings."

"I need to see your paintings one day. I wonder who you paint like. Are you more a little Da Vinci or Van Gogh?" the pale woman mused aloud while continuing to rub the redhead's stomach.

Kim's forehead furrowed a bit. "Neither."

"Your voice is telling me to stop talking because you're focusing more on the game than me," Shego commented.

Kim nodded honestly. Shego laughed a bit and just held onto the slender hero with no intent of letting her go while the match went on. The pale woman busied herself with the girl in her arms since she had yet to develop a love for any sports, including soccer. She found something much more fascinating than sports when she had the redhead in her arms, mostly fondling the olive-eyed girl.

Shego kissed on Kim's neck and ear, which the redhead did not mind. She liked all of the attention that she got from Shego, especially since it seemed to be genuine now since she was not paying the older woman to spend time with her. She did not know why Shego was so interested in her, but she doubted that it mattered. As long as the attention kept coming, everything was fine by her.

"When are you going to come back?" Shego asked out of the blue.

"I don't know," Kim answered honestly.

The pale woman nodded, even though Kim did not see because she was focusing on the television. Shego continued to busy herself with what she liked, touching Kim. There was something about Kim that seemed to scream "cuddle!" and she obeyed. Something about Kim took Shego out of her usually dirty mindset to a mindset that she thought was weird, but the redhead had that effect on her. When she cuddled Kim, like she was now, her touches were not overly lustful.

When the moss-hued woman kissed Kim's neck or ear, the touches were sweet. Yes, Shego could be extremely lascivious, but she could also be somewhat tender with Kim, and only with Kim really. Sometimes she noticed and sometimes she did not. Sometimes Kim noticed, but most of the time, it went by her.

"Hey, Shego," Kim said out of the blue.

"Hmm?" the pale woman made a noise to acknowledge the girl.

"Are you going to be home tomorrow?"

"What, so you can use my TV and eat my food that actually goes together?" Shego teased.

"Maybe I just want to hang out with you," Kim countered with an amused half-smile.

"You never just want to hang out with me. You want to hang out with my TV and my food," the green-skinned woman argued in a taunting tone.

"Only because you let me," the petite hero argued.

"Is that it? If I didn't let you do certain things, you wouldn't do them?"

"Not in your house obviously," Kim answered.

"You're too polite for yourself, Princess. You should be more forceful," Shego suggested.

"Is that what you want me to be?" the redhead inquired with an impish smirk on her face.

"It would be a nice change."

Kim chuckled a bit. Shego did the same and then went back to her task. The redhead went back to watching her match. They both just seemed to enjoy being as they were; it seemed to bring peace to their world. And they stayed like that until Shego had to get ready to go out.

Shego groaned when she saw the time. Kim turned to look at her because of the annoyed sound. The redhead shifted more to converse with her hostess.

"Why are you squirming around?" Shego inquired.

"Why are you making that noise?"

Emerald eyes rolled. "I have to go out. It seemed like the day just flew by." Honestly, she knew that happened because of how content she was being on the couch with Kim. She liked lazing around in general, but doing it with Kim was wonderful. _Time really does fly when you're having fun_.

"Oh? So, I should get going, too?" Kim asked. It made sense to her, but she knew that things that made sense to her did not always translate into the same with Shego.

"You can stay if you want," Shego told Kim as she got up from the sofa. She went to change and was about to walk out of the apartment as her guest rose from the couch. "You really can stay."

"No, that's okay," Kim replied. She yawned and stretched a bit. "I need to get back to my work while my muses are kicking me in the head."

Shego chuckled. "All right. If you're going come back, I tend to get in about seven in the morning. If you want to call me, here's my home number and the cell that I always answer."

The pale woman took Kim by the hand and wrote both of the numbers on the petite hero's palm. Kim looked at the numbers and then headed out the door with Shego. Kim smiled at her.

"Thanks," the redhead said and she gave Shego a sweet kiss on the lips.

"It's nothing, really," Shego lied. She had just broken a rule to her profession, but that did not bother her; hell, the kid already knew where she lived, so Kim having her real phone number was not much.

-*-(New day)-*-

Kim yawned as she pulled herself away from her computer and turned off the monitor. She was bored. She had just gotten through a large portion of her story and she thought that she deserved a break. As soon as that idea came to mind, she instantly thought about Shego.

It was very logical in Kim's mind how she got to Shego when she needed a break. Her mind was trained to think about soccer when she wanted to unwind and because she now watched as much soccer as her mind could handle at Shego's place, she thought of Shego when she thought of soccer. It was doubtful that Shego would have been pleased to know that Kim's brain associated her with soccer and not mind-blowing sex, but she probably would not have been surprised.

Kim hummed to herself as she went to make the call. She waited as the phone rang and then a groggy voice answered. The voice did not sound very pleased.

"Shego, you're sleeping?" Kim asked.

"Yeah, Princess, it's nine in the morning," Shego answered. She recognized the voice, even in her dazed state.

"Is it?" Kim asked in an astonished tone as she looked around for the time. She did not own a clock, so it was difficult for her to confirm that, but she would take Shego's word on it.

"Yeah. You wanna come over?" the pale woman guessed.

"I can wait," Kim replied.

"You can come over. Just be quiet."

"Aren't I always?"

"You don't want me to answer that one."

Kim laughed a bit and they disconnected the call. The redhead went to take a shower and put on some comfortable clothes before exited her apartment. She headed right for Shego's place, smiling politely at the doorman, who knew her by name at that point. The pale woman let her in and she practically bounced to the sofa. Shego groaned as she watched Kim; _how the hell can she have so much energy at nine thirty in the morning?_ Shaking her head, Shego decided not to think about it and she went back to bed.

-8-8-8-8-

Shego returned the living room well into the afternoon, feeling well rested and eager to see her Princess. She flopped down on the sofa next to Kim. She was not wearing anything provocative; she had on a black robe. Sure, it was a short robe, but it was still a robe.

"So, what do you say you join me for dinner tonight," Shego suggested.

"Huh?" Kim asked.

"Dinner, you, me," Shego shortened the plan, so that it could make through the soccer in Kim's mind.

"Sounds good, but don't you have … work?" the redhead inquired. She did not typically refer to Shego's occupation. It seemed like really a taboo subject with her, even though she had hired Shego on more than one occasion. Shego respectfully did not bring it up since Kim seemed so skittish about it.

"No, Princess, I get days off just like everyone else," the pale woman answered. _Hey, I get more days off than most people_.

"Oh," the younger woman mumbled, scrunching up her face a bit. It was clear that she did not consider that one.

"So, dinner? You make me ask again and I'm kicking you out. You're going to have to go back to your TV-less loft," Shego teased.

"I'll have dinner with you then," Kim answered.

Shego smirked, as if she had won a battle. "Good. Anything special you want? Why am I even asking? You're a person that will eat fucking waffles with peanut butter and whipped cream."

"Hey, it's good that way!" Kim argued.

Shego did not even jump into that one. Sometimes, she figured that Kim either had no taste buds or had a stomach made of reinforced steel. She would just order what she wanted when the dinnertime came because she knew that her redheaded guest would eat just about anything. Kim glanced over at Shego; a thought had entered her head because Shego stated that she had days off.

"Shego, how did you get your job?" Kim asked curiously, curling her mouth up in an adorable manner.

"Why, you want to join up?" Shego teased.

"No, I was just wondering," the younger woman answered.

"I got my job like most people do, I knew somebody," the pale woman replied with a shrug.

Kim's face tensed and she frowned slightly. "What kinda answer is that?"

"The one you're getting, so stop being so nosy. I don't go around asking you about your work, do I?" Shego pointed out.

"No, but then again, you don't know what I do."

"You don't even know what the hell you do."

"You got me there," Kim yielded with a shrug.

Shego shook her head because of her guest. She gathered Kim up in her arms and hugged her tightly to show that there were no hard feelings. She smiled when the younger woman relaxed against her. She played with Kim while the redhead watched soccer. Eventually, Shego just had to turn the channel, though. Usually, she would leave things as they were, but it was her day off and she would like to enjoy her television for a little while.

"Hey!" Kim protested.

"Shut up," Shego ordered in a playful tone.

"I was watching that." The pout that she had made Shego just want to kiss her, but the pale woman managed to resist the temptation.

"I know and now you're watching this. You can't just hog my TV all day. I don't hog you all day, do I?"

Kim conceded that point and stopped pouting. She had just been running claim on the television ever since Shego allowed her to come over and she had been watching something that her hostess did not even like. _That is rather rude of me_, Kim thought. _I owe it to Shego to watch whatever she wants to at least once in a while. It's her TV and her space that she's allowing me into_ _and she's always nice about it_.

The pale woman turned to an action movie and it seemed that they were watching that, but it seemed that was not the only thing that they were going to be doing. Although Shego did want to see the movie, it did not stop her from fondling Kim while watching the film. Kim did lean into any lustful touch or she held Shego's hand in place somewhere on her.

Shego was starting to realize that it was just her habit to touch Kim when she was within arms' length and they were sitting still. The redhead begged to be touched in her opinion. There was something about Kim that called out to her to caress whenever she could and she still could not figure out what that something was. She was starting to think that was a bad thing, though.

Shego was only now beginning to note that she was getting rather close to the younger woman. But, she decided that she did not care. It was not completely unnerving because she enjoyed molesting someone. _I just like being able to touch her whenever I want, nothing more_. She was allowed to be licentious; it did not mean that she was getting too close to a person. Getting too close to someone was a bad thing, but liking to touch someone was fine. _Yeah, so I'm worrying too much and over nothing at that_, Shego told herself. _I just like touching her and I do what I like_.

-8-8-8-8-

Kim groaned softly as she woke up. She covered her mouth as she began to yawn. She propped herself up on her elbows to look around for a sign of what time it was. Her movement caused the body next to her to stir.

"What are you doing?" Shego inquired in a sleepy voice.

"Huh?" Kim said as she turned to the pale woman.

"What are you doing?" Shego repeated while opening her eyes to see what the redhead was doing.

"I was just trying to get an idea of what time it is. You don't have a clock or something?" Kim asked.

"Of course, I have a clock. I don't live like you. Why do you need to know what time it is?"

"Well, I figured I would go home."

Shego did not really like the sound of that. She had all day to just hold Kim and here Kim was, trying to get away. She was not for that plan at all.

"Stay," the pale woman requested while reaching out for the redhead and grabbing her around the waist.

"You want me to stay?" Kim asked. She was puzzled by that because that was the first time that Shego had ever asked her to stay with her.

"Yes," Shego answered.

Kim would not mind staying and it typically felt good when she could give Shego something that she wanted. She settled back down into the bed next to Shego, who pulled her close. Shego fell back to sleep within seconds while Kim remained up for a while because she did not do long sleeps.

The redhead spent sometime staring down at the woman sleeping next to her. She liked hanging out with Shego. Sure, they never did much, but she did enough running around on her own that she was glad for a pause to her life. She liked that she could relax with Shego, except for when the pale woman was trying to broaden her horizons anyway. It was a bit hard to relax with the sex games that Shego liked to play, but Kim was up for a lot of things, even if she had never done them before.

-8-8-8-8-

When Shego woke up, Kim was sleeping again. She looked down at the kid and realized that not only had she requested that Kim stay, but the redhead had fulfilled that request. Most might have thought that was a good thing, but she was not most people. Shego did not think that either her request or Kim's compliance was a good thing.

It did not help matters that as she gazed at the sleeping hero, her heart fluttered in her chest. She felt almost gooey on the inside. _Definitely not a good sign_.

Shego believed that she was getting too close and attached to someone who was really just a client. Kim was her client and yet there she was, requesting that the girl stay with her just so that she could snuggle up with her in her sleep. Sure, it made for a good sleep, but that was beside the point. The fact of the matter was that she was too close to the kid and that was not a good thing.

She did not enjoy being close to anyone. It complicated life in so many ways. Conflicts arose when there was more than one person in her life. It meant having to hear another opinion on something and she was not interested in listening to someone else's opinion. She was not looking to care about another person. She just did not like having to put up with another person.

She was behaving inappropriately with the kid, Shego decided_. I'm way too close to her and this had to stop. In fact, this ends now_.

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: Shego cuts her ties to Kim. How will that affect them?


	6. The Art of Money making

I don't own these characters.

6: The Art of Moneymaking

Shego glanced at her caller ID as the phone rang. Kim was calling her again. She sighed; _why doesn't that damned kid just get a life and leave me the hell alone?_ She had stopped taking Kim's calls because she was trying to distance herself from the girl. In fact, she had never been rather curt with Kim the last time that she saw her, hoping to come off as a bitch and have Kim want nothing to do with her. _Obviously, that shit didn't work, but she needs to get over it and move the fuck on, like me_. Of course, the fact that she had to consciously not scoff in her own mind said something about her moving on.

She would not admit it to herself, but she did not like being without the adorable little redhead. She had enjoyed having someone to hold against her without it having to be because the person wanted her to do it and was paying her to do it. She could hug Kim close to her because she wanted to do and nothing more. It was a nice feeling. _Maybe that's why some of my clients request to just be held for a while_.

Kim's presence had been soothing for her. She was able to just relax with the kid, which was something that she had never been able to do with a person. Sure, she could relax on her own and she did, but it was different when the redhead was around. Kim provided her with someone to be affectionate with and she did not even know that she wanted someone like that; she would not even admit that to herself either.

It really boiled down to something that Shego would never confess to and that was that she was lonely. Kim was someone that took away that lonely feeling and made her act differently than she usually did, namely when she was nice to the kid or affectionate toward her. She did not want to think of herself as lonely because she thought that loneliness was a pathetic feeling and she associated it when some of her most annoying clients.

She had one extremely irksome client and it seemed that all he ever wanted her to do was hold him. He went by the name of Drakken, but she knew that was not his real name. He was a somewhat famous scientist and seemed to think she cared about what name he used. He was a pathetic little man with way too many issues for her to begin to catalogue and he always hired her just to be a pair of arms and ears. She had to listen to him rant for the time that he had her for and he liked being held while rambling. She suspected that he was a mama's boy, but she was not sure. She did know that he did not have any friends and it seemed to be one of the things that helped make him pathetic.

She had other clients like that, but Drakken was truly the most pitiful in her opinion because her other clients would at least get the bang for their buck. Drakken would go for it sometimes, but he did not last long and he did odd things while freaking her. Sometimes the nutty bastard cried; see, he was just a piece of work.

So, loneliness was an emotion for pitiful bastards and Shego did not see herself as pitiful. She refused to be pitiful. So, she did not want Kim around, tempting her to snuggle with the kid and relax around the redhead. She was not supposed to be nice to anyone either; she was a bad girl. So, Kim had to go away because she was the one making Shego act somewhat affable.

The phone finally stopped ringing and Shego sighed again. She hoped that Kim would give up on calling her sooner or later. _I'd prefer sooner than later_. _She needs to just take the hint already and leave me alone, dammit_. Kim needed to figure out that whatever they had was being severed right now. Whatever they were was done.

-8-8-8-8-

Kim sighed as she disconnected the call to Shego's house. She had not been able to get through to Shego for a couple of weeks now. She was hoping to ask the pale woman to join her at an art show in a few days. Some of her paintings were going to be featured and Shego had claimed to want to see what her finished work looked like, so she thought that it would be all right for them to go to the show together.

She had also been hoping to have a date for the evening, even though it probably was going to cost her. It was just that the last function she went to with Shego made the thing exponentially better. Everything was better when she was with Shego, but that was more from an internal standpoint since she did not do much with the pale woman when they spent time together.

_Why isn't she answering her phone anymore?_ Gulping, she thought of possibilities. _What if something happened to her?_ She shook that off almost immediately because she had seen Shego handle herself. At the most, Shego could have been sick, but sick for two weeks seemed a bit excessive.

She considered that the pale woman was just not taking her calls. _But, why wouldn't she take my calls? I didn't do anything to her … I don't think. I didn't do anything weird recently, I don't think anyway_. Nothing too strange happened the last time that they met up, except for the fact that Shego had requested that she stay with her through out the night. It seemed like Shego enjoyed having her around, so she did not see why the older woman was not taking her calls anymore.

_Maybe something did happened to her. I need to be sure_. As a last resort, Kim called Shego's work number. The pale woman did not answer that call either. Shego did grace her cell phone with a glance, but nothing more when she saw who it was that was calling her. The redhead sighed in despair because it was becoming apparent that Shego really did not want to see her anymore.

She dared to consider hiring Shego to join her at the art show. She guessed that since Shego was not taking her calls, she would just go straight to the source. She had to find the card before she could do that, though.

Kim went ripping through her things for that card. She had no idea what she did with that bloody, fucking card. She searched underneath everything and discovered the card under her desk. It was covered in paint, which she had to scrap off to see the number. She dialed and once again fumbled while on the phone with the woman in charge of it.

"Um … I was … um …" Kim stuttered.

Betty recognized that shy little stammer, even though she had not heard it for a long while; she just had an excellent memory. She also recalled that Shego told her that she was no longer handling the girl. Shego suggested giving Kim to someone else, but Betty was not sure who to give Kim to. Kim seemed to enjoy being with Shego and she did not have anyone else quite like Shego. She was skeptical that anyone on the planet was quite like Shego.

"Kid, you really shouldn't be so shaky. We're all friends, aren't we?" Betty asked Kim in an amiable tone, hoping to calm her down.

The redhead took a deep breath before continuing. "Right, I was wondering if Shego was free on Saturday," she explained in a stronger voice.

"Oh, Saturday? No, she's already got a date for Saturday. I could give you someone else," the brown-haired woman offered.

"No, that's okay," Kim replied, sounding very disappointed.

Betty made several suggestions, making sure to describe each woman in detail, but Kim did not go for any of them. It seemed that the girl had fallen for Shego, in Betty's opinion, since Shego was the only one that would do. She was a bit used to when it came to the pale woman's clients.

Shego's clients either got rid of her after the first date or stayed with her through out their time using Betty's service. She was not sure, but she figured that the people that kept Shego enjoyed having a forceful, dominating partner and they probably did not come anymore forceful and dominating than Shego.

-8-8-8-8-

Kim guessed that she was going to the art show alone. And she had so been looking forward to going with Shego and showing her some of the work that she had been doing since she met the pale woman. The thought of going alone actually depressed her a bit.

Being alone somewhere had never bothered Kim since she graduated high school until that very moment. She fell onto her bed with a pout on her face. She was going to be alone again.

"I don't want to be alone …" she mumbled into her pillow.

No, she told herself. She could get a date and she did not have to pay for it. Sure, she could. She was a fairly attractive redhead and she could be social if given the chance. Well, she could be social, but it was difficult for her to get dates for some reason.

She went out to try anyway and failed as usual. She had such a hard time with the dating thing and she could not figure out why that was. Okay, fine, when she began talking about what she did with her time and the person was not a fan, it typically put people off. Not too many people believed her that she was a hero and those that did believe her were not seriously looking to put up with such a dangerous lifestyle. No one really wanted to get close to her and it was the story of her life, but she just had not gotten used to it and she doubted that she ever would.

It was a painful thing that followed her around, knowing that most people did not want to be close to her because of what she did most of her time. So what she liked jumping out of planes? So what she liked running through the jungle? So what she faced off against maniacs on almost a weekly basis? Well, she looked at it as "so what," but it was a big deal to many people … except for Shego.

All right, she could do the art show alone. It was not the first time that she was going to go someplace alone and it probably was not going to be the last since Shego was no longer dealing with her. She supposed that it made some sense that the pale woman no longer wanted anything to do with her.

It made sense because Shego seemed to be a businesswoman more or less. It was all about money to her and Kim just could not afford the business, not for all of the time that she was with the green-skinned woman. She was costing Shego money.

She guessed that she had made the mistake of thinking that she and Shego were friends of some kind, but that did not seem to be the case. Shego was all about the money. They were never friends, even though it seemed that way. It seemed like they were cool with each other, but she guessed that she had been reading too much into things.

-*-(New day)-*-

"I can't believe I let you leave the house like that," Bonnie sighed and she shook her head. She was speaking to her boyfriend.

"What? We have a deal. When it's my party night, I can wear whatever I want to and when it's your night, you can threaten me all you want to get me into the clothes you want me to wear," Josh replied.

They were at an art expo and he had some work on display. He was hoping someone brought a painting; he really could use the confidence boost. He did all right for himself, but it would be a real kick in the teeth to him if none of his works moved.

"I still can't believe I let you leave the house like that," the aqua-eyed dancer said.

Josh only laughed. He was dressed somewhat decent, but not up to Bonnie's high-class standards. He was wearing jeans, but he had on a black blazer, too, mostly hoping that it would appease her. The outfit fell apart after jacket because he was wearing black sandals and a red t-shirt. He did not see a problem with it, but Bonnie was almost embarrassed to be seen with him; it was "almost" because there were plenty of people dressed worse than him.

"If Kim is dressed right again, we're reworking this damn deal," Bonnie stated.

Josh chuckled again, but he sounded a bit uncomfortable. If Kim was with Shego again, he was willing to bet that she would be dressed impressive again because she had been that way the couple of times he had seen her with Shego. _Oh, god, I might have to start wearing suits_, he thought with dread. His stomach dropped into his feet. Well, at least he and Kim would still have something in common if their bum wear were taken from them; they would both have domineering girlfriends.

"What time is it, anyway?" Bonnie asked.

"You know Kim is going to be late. She always is," Josh replied.

"Well, yeah, but this is her night too. She should be here almost on time," Bonnie argued.

"She's never been to an art show almost on time. She's never been anywhere almost on time. We should be happy if she's even in this country right now," the young artist remarked.

"She needs to learn to let the police save the world every now and then," Bonnie commented.

"Hey, is that her?" Josh asked when he noticed the top of some orange-red hair.

Bonnie turned to look and saw what he was talking about. The crowd parted and they got the chance to see that it was a false alarm. They turned their attention to the other side of the room and then noticed someone else.

"Hey, that's Shego," Josh realized when he noticed a curvy ebony-haired female in a flattering black and green gown.

"But, who's that she's with?" Bonnie wondered out loud.

Shego was not with Kim, as they would have thought, considering they had seen her at a couple of parties with their best friend. They knew her through Kim and they assumed that she and Kim were a couple, but that was being challenged by what they were seeing now. Shego was on the arm of a man, engaging in conversation with him and smiling at him as if he were someone special.

"Well, I guess I don't have to worry about Kim showing up looking better than me," Josh muttered for lack of a better thing to say.

Bonnie hit Josh for such insensitive words; hey, if anyone was going to be hard on Kim, it was going to her and that was all. She was tempted to go bark at Shego for not being with the redhead, but she considered that Shego might have never actually "been with" Kim. She thought that Kim might have actually used that card that she had given her months ago. Well, she was about to find out.

"Shego," Bonnie called.

"What are you doing?" Josh inquired.

"Finding something out," Bonnie answered and she went over to Shego, who was trying to spot who it was that called her name.

"Oh, it's you," Shego said. She recognized Kim's friends. She had not really talked with them or anything, though. She had noted that they seemed happy about her being with Kim, so she could almost guess how this was going to go.

"Yeah, where's Kim?" Bonnie inquired.

"No clue," the pale woman answered. Was her Princess going to be at this party? She hoped not. She doubted that she could take seeing the little redhead.

"You didn't come with her?" Bonnie asked, even though she could see the answer to that.

"No, as you can see, I'm here with Monty," Shego motioned to her date for the night. He was sinister-looking chap with a long face and dark bags under his eyes, as if he did more brooding than sleeping during the night.

"Done with Kim then, are we?" the dancer asked with a bit of an attitude.

"Kimmie's a poor little bugger. Maybe when she gets a better paying job, we can talk," Shego replied.

_All right, so Shego was just a hired hand_. Bonnie was not sure how she felt about that. She was a bit hurt to know that her good friend, who was the sweetest, kindest, most selfless person on the planet had to buy a date and to make matters worse, the date that she brought was leaving her high and dry because she could not afford it. Bonnie decided that she was pissed at Shego for leaving Kim, especially since the redhead had seemed so happy to be with the pale woman.

"You know what, she was too good for you, anyway. She deserves someone who can see just how great she is and you're obviously too fucking money hungry to see it. You'd better stay away from her from now on," Bonnie warned the green-skinned woman, which Shego did not like.

"Or else what?" Shego inquired with a daring glint in her emerald eyes as she moved to glare down at the dancer, who did not back down.

"Baby," Josh said, trying to get his girlfriend to calm down. There was something about the way that Shego was moving that reminded him of Kim, which let him know that he did not want a physical fight to happen because his lover would probably end up in the hospital.

"You need to listen to your fashion disaster," Shego told Bonnie.

"Fuck you," Bonnie snapped.

"You probably can't afford it," the pale woman quipped.

"You're just a fucking whore, anyway," Bonnie countered.

"Yeah, a damn good one. Now, get the fuck away from me before I have to lose my favorite shoes in your ass," Shego stated.

Bonnie growled, but Josh saved her skin by pulling her away from the moss-hued call girl. Shego watched them move to the other side of the large hall. _Great, now I've been reminded of Kim_. She had trying to work the girl out of her memory ever since she cut the kid out of her life and now Kim was back in her head. To make matters worse, the girl might actually be somewhere in the crowd. _Damn_.

"What was that all about?" Shego's date inquired.

"Nothing, Monty," she assured him.

Monty Fiske was an aristocrat from England that usually called Shego when he was in the country. He was actually married to some fat woman that he did not seem to like to bring out in public. She did not care about his marital status as long he paid her at the end of the night. She would fulfill whatever fantasy he had as long as the money was right and with his quirks, she made quite a pretty penny off of him.

She could almost understand why Monty hired her with all of the weird things that he liked to do. She doubted that his wife would do them, but as it turned out, his wife would do just about anything for him. The thing was that he did not want to do anything with the obese female. She supposed that she could understand that.

The pale woman stopped thinking about her date as they moved on to look at some of the art. They came to a piece that looked familiar to her, but she was not sure where she had seen it before. She knew that she had not seen the painting before, but it seemed very familiar.

"Kim!" Shego heard someone call and that was when it hit her. The painting looked like that photo that she had seen in Kim's apartment on her desk. The painting used the same pose from the photo, but the difference was that there was a ghostly figure floating over the back of the kneeling girl at the tombstone. The phantom looked like the girl, who appeared to be weeping, but the ghost was smiling while reaching down to the girl.

The pale woman turned since she heard someone call the name of her Princess. She spotted Kim almost instantly. The redhead stood out, even in a place with fellow bohemian types. Kim had shown up dressed as she usually was, which did not look as bad compared to what other people were wearing, Josh included.

Shego nearly made the mistake of calling out to the girl. She stopped herself just as her nickname for Kim was on the tip of her tongue. _I'm cutting Kimmie out of my life_, she reminded herself. She did not need Kim around. The redhead would only prove a burden and she would make it seem like Shego was pathetic because of the way that Shego acted with the petite hero. No, she had to fight the desire and soon it would go away, she told herself.

The green-skinned woman turned her attention back to Monty, who was going on about the painting that they were standing in front of. It seemed that he liked the colors that were used and the smoothness of the style. He told one of the people in charge that he would like to meet the artist of the piece if the artist was around. Kim was nearly snatched out of her skin as she walked by that very moment.

"Here she is."

"What's going on?" Kim asked and then she turned to Monty and Shego. The smile that had been on her face since she arrived faded instantly and it seemed like if they had an x-ray on her, they would have seen all of her guts and organs drop right into her feet.

"You did this piece?" Monty inquired, speaking to Kim. He pointed to the painting that was situated behind them.

"Uh-huh," the redhead confirmed in a mumble. She could not speak as her throat felt tight, but she did not even think about that. She could only focus on Shego and the fact that her body felt like it was being drained of everything that was underneath her skin.

"You have a very nice style. Do you have other pieces around here?" Monty inquired.

"Uh-huh," Kim answered while wondering why the pale woman was not speaking to her. Shego was trying to not look at the little redheaded artist.

"Do you suppose you could point them out?" he asked impatiently. He was starting to get the idea that she was an idiot because she was not articulate and she did not seem to be paying him any mind.

"Uh-huh."

Kim pointed to her left, where there was a section of her pieces on display. Monty nodded and started off to go look at those. He was glad for an excuse to get away from the brain-dead artist. As he walked off, he failed to notice that Shego was not at his side. She had tried to walk off, but Kim ceased that by grabbing her hand.

"Shego," the redhead said.

"I'm working," Shego replied in a clipped tone while pulling her hand away roughly.

"Shego," Kim said again, but the pale woman was not listening.

Shego walked off to get back to her date. She tried to ignore the hurt look that was in the girl's huge olive eyes. She really wanted to just turn around and grab Kim to let the redhead know that she did not mean to hurt her, but even a thought like that only pissed Shego off more and let her know that she needed to get away from that kid.

"This is really nice work," Monty commented as Shego returned to his side.

"Yeah," she agreed. She did not know art well, but she knew what she liked. Kim had a nice, soft style to her. Her paintings were comforting, even if they showed strange scenes, like two lions fighting. She seemed to work like a spiral where a person started out at the border of the painting and was just drawn into the center by the direction of her subjects and brush strokes.

"It's a shame that someone so brain dead does such great work. I'd buy a painting if I wasn't so sure she's just going to blow the money on drugs," Monty remarked.

"What?" Shego asked in a rather offended tone. _My Princess does not do drugs and she is far from brain dead, you freak!_

"She obviously smoked all of her brain cells away," Monty stated with a disgusted snort.

Shego growled and she flexed her hand. She wanted to do badly to tear into him for his words about Kim, but she controlled herself. She was not supposed to care about Kim anyway, so he could shoot his mouth off about her all he wanted, she told herself. She did not care. _I don't fucking care_.

Through out the night, Shego could feel those wounded olive eyes on her. She ignored Kim, hoping that the fool kid got the idea that she did not care about her and did not want to be around her anymore. By the end of the night, Kim did get the hint and she stopped looking at the pale woman. Apparently, whatever they had was done and over.

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: Confrontation occurs when Shego sees Kim again.


	7. Ready, set, go

I don't own these characters.

7: Ready, set, go

Kim scratched the end of her nose while looking at the computer screen. She had hit yet another block in her writing. She was fairly certain that if she had been writing a true account of something that she had done, she would have been done with it already. She was just trying to make her current story even more fantastic than her last and that was going to take a lot of work considering all of the bizarre things that she had put in her last tale.

Scratching her nose turned into rubbing her hand with one hand and she sighed. "I feel like I'm forcing it when I do this, but I have to get this done. I can't keep begging for an extension and the editor can help if I can just get down this freaking draft," she reminded herself.

She tried working through the block because writing was all that she had left now. Her painting muses had abandoned her after the art show and that had been nearly a month ago. She had attempted to paint, but all she came out with was junk in her opinion. Her strokes were heavy, her colors were dull, and the images were not worth looking at.

She had been looking for inspiration from the outside world, but she had not gotten anything. She had not seen anything worth taking a picture of to modify it as a painting later on. Not even beautiful things in nature while she was out on missions caught her eye. She was just dry on that artistic front.

She did not feel like going outside unless it was necessary. She went out for missions because no matter what she was going through the world still needed saving and when Bonnie forced her out to parties. Bonnie was trying to help, which she respected.

The dancer could tell that Kim was down and out, more so than she could recall ever seeing the redhead. She thought that to get Kim back on her feet, the hero needed to meet someone and that was why she always called Kim out to gatherings. She introduced Kim to a number of women, but none of them did anything for Kim. Some of them were really fucking annoying.

There were women that wanted to change her, be it how she dressed or the fact that she went on missions. Every now and then, one was a fan and all she wanted to do was talk about Kim's work. The rest just were not good fits in some way or another. She was _so_ over the dating thing thanks to them.

Kim was tired of Bonnie trying to put her in a relationship and she said as much, but Bonnie never listened. Kim no longer even tried with finding someone to date. She was just spent and it was obvious from her behavior. She did not try to impress girls that Bonnie introduced her to. Instead, she often tried to frighten them away.

She liked showing off battle scars and adventure marks. If those did not get women away from her, she had stories of some of the things that she did all over the world. She always could find something down her list that would frighten or gross females away from her. Bonnie did not give up, though, and whenever Kim scared a girl away, Bonnie came around with someone new. Kim wondered where the hell Bonnie found so many lesbians from because she knew that she never could find one when she had been looking.

"Bonnie must have freaking radar for lesbians or something. Gaydar," she chuckled to herself. Whatever Bonnie had, the redhead was more than aware that she did not have it.

Other than parties and missions, Kim could be found locked away in her apartment. She kept herself secluded there because she knew that if she went out, she would go to the Triple S to watch some football. There was always the chance that Shego might be there and she did not want to see Shego at all.

"Screw Shego …" she grumbled to herself, as if needing to remind herself that she now hated the pale woman.

It had been a month since she last saw the older female at the art show where she had been thoroughly ignored through out the night. She never got an explanation why she had been cut off. Hell, she had not even gotten a hello or something that showed that had once been close. Shego would not even take her money if she called the service to try to hire the green-skinned woman. Apparently, they had just come to the end of the road and Kim had not been aware until Shego all but drew her a diagram stating that "it" was over. Kim did not even know what to call "it."

"It's not like we were friends and we definitely weren't girlfriends. I don't think, anyway."

She and Shego did not really have a relationship that could be classified. They were not friends as far as she could tell because if they were, they would more than likely still be on speaking terms. They were not girlfriends because they never went on dates, unless Kim paid for that and her idea of a date and Shego's idea of a "date" were two completely different things. They were not lovers, even though they had had their fair share of sex. She would not say that the sex was meaningless, but that was only to her. It probably was meaningless to Shego; after all, she had sex all of the time. It was how she made her living.

_What were we then?_ Kim was not sure. She just knew that everything seemed right in the world when she got into Shego's apartment and she could just park herself on the cushy sofa while watching enough soccer to make her eyes bleed. A peaceful feeling used to wash over her when Shego embraced her, held her close, and made her feel wanted. It had just been nice. Nice was really the only word that she could think of to describe it.

She guessed that it was not nice for Shego. Maybe the pale woman had just been playing with her and was now done with her. _That is a depressing thought_. She frowned, but her mind only made things worse. _I was just good for being a toy for the one person willing to be around me on more than one occasion and didn't want to change me or talk about my work all the time. It was like she liked me for me_.

"Fuck," Kim sighed in a sorrowful tone, slumping over onto her desk. She was making herself feel worse than she already did. "I just … I feel so …" She swallowed the word down, but it drifted across her mind without her permission. _Lonely_.

She sucked her teeth as she acknowledged that she was lonely, but she could not do anything about that. After all, she had long ago proven a failure at attracting company. She was lonely and now depressed, which was getting in the way of her work. She needed to do something with herself and since her Kimmunicator was not going off to offer up a distraction, she guessed that she was going to have to go with her cure-all. She needed to watch some soccer.

Kim tore herself away from her computer and grabbed her keys from off of the floor. She exited her apartment and marched down to the Triple S. She could only hope that she had a piece of good luck in the regular world and Shego not be at the bar. As she entered, she discovered that someone or something somewhere was looking out for her because the bar was empty.

"Oh, long time no see," Senor Senior Senior greeted Kim with a warm smile.

"Yeah, been busy," she replied with a forced smile. "Is it all right for me to watch a match?" she asked.

"You're the only one here," the old man answered.

Kim nodded and she went to have a seat. She turned to the soccer channel and a glass of soda was brought to her. She was so thankful that there was a place where she could watch soccer anytime of day; whoever thought of an all-football channel had her thanks, too. She sighed, thinking that she would be able to relax because of her favorite sport.

As time progressed, Kim noticed that the game was not helping. She had barely touched her soda and her chin was resting on the tabletop, like a scolded puppy. She still felt like everything inside of her had rotted away. She did not understand why she felt so shitty. She had been rejected by dozens of men and women through out her life and she bounced back pretty easily. She always had things to do to get her mind off of the fact that she had been discarded, but now the feeling was staying with her.

"Why does it have to be like this?" she groaned in a low tone.

Kim put her forehead down on the table and tried to will herself to calm down. _Everything's cool. I just need to keep it together. Everything is fine_. Everything was the way that it used to be. _So, why the hell do I feel like crap?_ It did not make sense to her, but that was how she felt and she kept her head down while trying to will her emotions to change. It was not working.

Senor Senior Senior and his son looked at Kim for a moment and then their attention was drawn to the front door. Shego stormed in and made a beeline for the bar. She flopped down at the bar and just tapped the counter.

"Yes, ma'am?" Junior asked, doing his best to be polite and friendly.

"The usual, dip-shit," Shego answered.

Junior frowned, but he did not argue and fixed her a drink without saying another word to her. She took and just stared down at it. The Seniors noticed that their only two patrons were both in horrible moods, so they decided to avoid them unless the ladies requested something.

"Fuck," Shego sighed miserably into her beverage.

Shego did feel a bit rundown and she had been feeling that way for about a month, not that she was keeping count of the days or anything. Everything seemed so pointless suddenly to her and she was not sure why that was. Her life was pretty much the same as it always had been, yet felt completely different. _It's like I want everything to just go away, even though nothing's changed from my life_.

When she was working, everything was all right. She could just focus on her client, even if the client was an idiot. She was a professional and conducted herself as such. It gave her a distraction and her mind stayed right where it was supposed to be. When she was at home, everything was shit.

She dragged around her apartment as if nothing mattered. She had trouble sleeping, but she still did not like getting out of bed. She had been drinking more lately when she was home. Drinking certainly did not help anything, not that she even wanted to admit to herself that something was wrong with her.

Being drunk at home sometimes made things worse. She grumbled to herself a lot, talking to the walls as if they would solve her problems. Sometimes, she drank herself unconscious and dreamed of memories that she needed to forget. She woke up with a forbidden name on her lips. She needed to stop drinking at home, she figured, if she was getting "pass out" drunk.

She sipped her drink and looked around, even though she was pretty certain the place was empty. Still, she liked to be aware of her surroundings, even when she was getting drunk. She caught sight of the other patron in the bar. It felt like her heart stopped and leaped into her throat when she saw that redhead tucked into a booth in the corner. She knew who it was even though her head was down and the soccer game was watching itself.

"Princess …" she whispered before she knew what she was doing. Her heart actually resettled just from that action, that little piece of acknowledgement.

Shego bit into her lip to prevent herself from calling out to the younger woman and resisted the urge to go over to Kim. She knew immediately what it was that had been eating at her for a month. She missed her Princess. She never had anyone in her life like Kim and now that she was gone, there was a hole in her life. A big hole shaped like Kim that was just getting expanding as time went on.

All right, Shego was not a fan of being close to someone and of needing someone, but she was less a fan of feeling like shit. Life was not about feeling like crap. She was all about enjoying life as much as she could, so she guessed that in order to go back to enjoying her life, she needed to get her Princess back. Beside, her Princess looked like she could use a pick-me-up.

"Don't go bothering that kid," Senor Senior Senior ordered Shego when he noticed her looking over in Kim's direction.

"Shut the fuck up, old man," Shego replied in a blunt, serious tone. Usually, she at least sounded a bit playful when she said such things, but at the moment, she sounded as if she hated his guts and she would hurt him if he dared to butt in again.

"Look, the kid's obviously having a bad day. Leave her be. What good can you do her?" he inquired with a stern expression.

"What part of 'shut the fuck up' are you missing? I didn't ask for your fucking permission and since you're not her fucking father mind your own fucking business," the pale woman commanded, pointing at him.

Shego stood up and gulped her drink down to help calm her down for what she was about to do. She was going to approach a kid that had no problem being rude toward her, a kid that she had been pretending did not exist for more than a month, and a kid that saw her out with a date during one of the bigger nights in her life. She might be lucky to not get a soda thrown in her face or slapped.

Well, there was always the chance that she might get Kim's polite side and the girl might actually listen to what she had to say. She took a deep breath before proceeding. She took long, powerful steps toward Kim, hiding the fact that she was nervous for one of the few times in her life.

"Kimmie," Shego said in a soft tone while putting her hand on the girl's shoulder.

Kim shot up, alert and on guard because she was unsure who had just approached her. Her state did not change when she saw who it was that was upon her. She gave Shego just about the hardest look of disdain that the green-skinned woman ever encountered. Shego even had to take a step back because of the expression and gulped a little.

"Princess," Shego started again, but the redhead was not even looking to hear anything from a woman that had completely severed their relationship without even explaining herself.

Kim stood up and began going for the door. Shego uttered the nickname again and reached for Kim's hand. The redhead tore away from her grip and continued fleeing. Shego was about to chase after her, but Senor Senior Senior grabbed her from behind.

"Leave her be," he repeated, almost growling at time.

"Let me go, old man," Shego practically snarled.

"Leave her—"

"I said let go!" Shego roared and her hands ignited with emerald plasma that the old man was not expecting.

The old man gasped backed away from her. Beads of sweats ran down his face and she sincerely hoped that he was not going to have a heart attack because she did not have time for it and she doubted that his moron son would know what to do. Typically, she would have reveled in the fact that she had gotten to frighten something with her powers, provided he did not die from the shock, but she wanted to catch up with her Princess.

"Calm down and take deep breaths," she told the older Senior and then she turned to the younger. "The number is 9-1-1 if he's having a heart attack," she said because she did not think he was smart enough to remember it for an emergency.

With that done, Shego bolted out of the bar, but she did not see Kim on the street. She silently cursed to herself, but she knew where the girl was going. She figured that she would just meet Kim there and force the fool kid to listen to her.

-8-8-8-8-

Kim was going to the one sanctuary that she did have, her home. She just wanted to get away from Shego. She could not believe the gall of that damn woman. Over a month of total isolation and now the bitch dared to approach her when all she wanted was to be left alone to watch her match; not that she really wanted to be alone or was really watching the match. Still that damned woman had a lot of fucking nerve.

"Bitch," she hissed heatedly and she swallowed down a lump in her throat.

Kim felt so bad over what was happening that she did not know what to do, aside from going home anyway. Her hands were trembling from fury and sorrow. Her bottom lip did the same and the only way to stop it was to sink her teeth in it. She felt as if she were going to throw up, so she kept swallowing to keep down whatever burning sensation was trying to rise, be it some emotions or dinner. Her olive eyes misted over, but she refused to cry. There was no way in hell that Kim Possible was going to cry, especially over a woman. Over _that_ woman.

She fumbled with her keys as she got to her door, going so far as to dropping them twice as she tried to get the key in the lock. It had never taken her so long to open a door in her life. And as soon as she got in her home, she let out a breath that she had not been aware that she was holding, and then she kept breathing loudly. It sounded as if she was weeping, but there were no tears falling from her eyes.

"Why did it take you do long to get here, Princess?" Shego inquired and Kim looked over to her window in disbelief.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Kim demanded while glaring at the older woman.

"Kimmie, just listen to me, please," the pale woman requested with begging emerald eyes. She had broken into the apartment fairly easily since Kim left all of her windows open. She supposed that it was all right since Kim lived on the fifth floor, but that did not stop her.

"No, get the fuck out before I throw you out!" the redhead threatened … or maybe promised considering her skill level.

"Will you just fucking listen to me?" Shego practically shrieked, going so far as to stomp her foot.

"No! Fuck you and whatever the hell you have to say! I wanted to talk over a fucking month ago and you were ignoring me. We're not doing everything you wanna do just because you wanna fucking do it. So, get the hell out!" Kim pointed to the door.

"Make me get out or listen to me," Shego dared the girl. Kim took the answer that she did not expect.

The redhead marched over to Shego and seemed to have the idea in her head that she was going to throw the pale woman out, as if Shego would allow that to happen. The green-skinned woman would leave until she got to speak her mind, or so was her plan. They began tumbling with each other and got into a serious fight.

They were not sure who got into a fighting stance first, but they were there and suddenly kicks were flying. They were both dodging and countering, trying to take ground while not giving any away.

Kim was shocked that Shego could fight with her as an equal as they went at it. After all, Shego was a call girl and Kim was a globetrotting adventurer. The redhead really thought that she should be able to take Shego down with no problem, even though she did recall the night of their first "date" and Shego had managed to pick her pocket. Theft and fighting were two separate things, though.

They went at it all over the loft apartment with kicks and punches. They moved as if they had fought each other a million times, even though that was their first real fight. They dodged and blocked moves while trying to break the other's defense. They both would have found it very entertaining if only they did not have serious matter to get to.

They eventually ended up near Kim's bed area and Shego knew that she had an opportunity that she needed to seize. She tackled Kim on to the bed, taking the younger woman by surprise with the rather unsophisticated assault. Shego quickly went into under the bed for something that she had stashed there a while ago, handcuffs. She pushed Kim's wrist up against the wooden headboard and swiftly attached one restraint to her wrist and put the other on one of the wooden poles lining the headboard. Kim did not even realize what just happened, mostly because she forgot that she had cuffs in her room, until she tried to lunge at Shego. The shackle pulled her back.

"What the hell?" Kim turned to look at her hand. "You bitch! Let me go!" she ordered while tugging at the cuffs.

"Watch your mouth, Princess," Shego reprimanded the redhead with a slightly smug expression on her face. Truly, she did not like the kid cursing. It did not suit her.

"Fuck you!"

"You are mighty hostile tonight," the pale woman commented. She felt like she could be her usual too cool self now that she was in control of the situation.

"Of course I am! Now let me go!" Kim ordered while yanking at the handcuffs again. It did not occur to her that she might break her little wooden futon if she kept stressing it out as she was.

"No, you're going to fucking listen to me now," the raven-haired female replied.

"Like hell I am! I don't want to listen to you! I don't want to see you anymore! I just want you to get the hell out of my house and out of my life! I don't care about you anymore!" Kim hollered, becoming red in the face. It was like if she said it loud enough, they might both believe it. But, if that was the case, she had not said it nearly loud enough.

Shego did not respond right away; she just could not. It was not because she was hurt by Kim's lies. It was the fact that they were lies and she knew that. It meant that Kim cared about her. _When was the last time someone gave a damn about me?_ She could not recall and what did she do to the first person to care? She had hurt her because she thought that she would be safer without getting close to the redhead. _Am I really that fucking stupid?_ At the moment, all signs pointed to a bright neon "yes."

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: so, do they kiss and make up?


	8. Tonight

I don't own these characters.

8: Tonight

Kim was pissed. No, she was beyond pissed. She was fucking livid to the point that a vein was popping up in her forehead. She was scowling and her chest was heaving, feeling tight, because of how emotional she felt. She doubted that all of the yelling that she had just done helped.

She could not do anything about her rage because she was chained to her bed, which was not helping her mood. She was just eyeing the object of her fury with contempt in her burning gaze, but her ire was ignored. She was not surprised by it.

"Princess," Shego said calmly, hoping that it would get the redhead to settle down. "You need to calm down. You'll make yourself sick if you don't."

"Lemme go and I'll fucking calm down!" Kim growled. She had already made the demand a dozen or so times and they had not worked. In a moment, she was just going to free herself. It was not like handcuffs could really hold her. She just did not want to break her bed all because of Shego.

"I just want you to listen to me," Shego said as she crawled over to Kim. She hoped that her body somehow helped Kim to calm down. It would mean that they were not completely ruined thanks to her.

"Why should I? You didn't listen to me," the redhead hissed.

"So you keep saying."

"So, why the fuck should I listen to you?" Kim huffed.

"Because I made a fucking mistake! Okay, I made a mistake," the pale woman replied with heavy sigh. She had no intentions of saying that before that moment. It was just that Kim kept demanding to know why she should hear Shego out and for some reason the complete truth leaped out of her mouth. _This kid might actually have some kind of power over me. Like she bewitched me or something_. Instead of scaring her, the thought amused her.

The confession shocked Kim to the point where her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open. Shego was a woman that thought that she was perfect, that she was incapable of making mistakes. So, for her to just admit such a thing was simply amazing and it did soften the slender hero up enough just for her to consider listening to whatever else the pale woman had to say. She visibly relaxed, which brought a small, brief smile to Shego's face.

"Look, Princess, I screwed up, okay? I did something really stupid when I stopped taking your calls and totally ignoring you. I was being stupid. I just thought I'd be better off without you," the green-skinned woman stated with a sigh. She wanted to reach out and touch Kim, but she somehow knew that would not be taken well, even if Kim was willing to hear her out.

"Why? It's not like we had anything really going. I just came to your house, watched your TV, and ate your food that goes together," the redhead replied, trying to trivialize the whole matter because she did not want it to mean much. If being with Shego was going to be a rollercoaster ride of emotional turmoil and problems, she would rather not be around the older woman anymore. She would just rather save herself the pain and misery because at least that world made sense.

"It was more than that and you know it," Shego huffed, scowling.

"Right, there were the times we had crazy, freaky, meaningless sex," the petite hero added in with an attitude.

"I don't think it was so meaningless," Shego admitted in a low voice. She had actually forgotten that sex could transcend physical pleasure until she started sharing her bed with Kim. It had been a little unsettling, but she liked it.

"Yeah, because all that matters is what you think," Kim snapped.

"Dammit, Princess! I'm trying! Can't you just accept that?"

"No, because when I was trying, you just pretended I didn't exist. I didn't matter in this whole thing. How the hell do I know that isn't going to happen again? Why should I just put my faith in you after what you did? Why the hell should I bother with believing in you when you could just put me through all of this shit again?" The rage was back, the chest was starting to heave and the tension in her face was pulling up that vein in her forehead again.

"Because I love you, goddamn it!" Shego snarled. It had to be just about the most hateful declaration of love that had ever been made.

Kim was shocked again. Shego had not just said that she loved her, right? _Why would Shego love me? How could Shego love me?_ They had not done anything to allow for love to exist or grow. It just did not make any sense.

"You don't love me," the artist objected, shaking her head slightly. Her voice was low, but stern. "You don't love me." That one was sterner, maybe to convince herself.

"I do. I love you so much. I know my stupid behavior makes it hard to believe, but this is what made me realize that I love you. I missed you so much and just seeing you hurt me so much, hurt me down to the core. You're more than just some kid that comes to my place, watches my TV, and eats my food that goes together. No sex with you is meaningless. You're so much more than those things," the pale woman argued in gentle, but very strong tone. "You're everything to me."

Shego curled up next to Kim and gathered the redhead in her arms. The slender adventurer fought with her, but with one of her hands bound, it was not much of a contest. Shego pressed herself against Kim and the contact actually made the girl calm down some. In case she did try to struggle again, Shego wrapped one leg over both of Kim's legs to make it a bit more difficult for the artist to move.

"I'm sorry I did this to you, Princess. You're a person that I like seeing. You uplift my day and make everything around me seem do right and calm. I like having you around so much that I just always want to hold you, kiss you, touch you in any way I can to remind myself that you're there and with me," the moss-hued female commented.

"I'm just a body you like to cuddle," Kim grumbled, scowling.

"No, you're not. You're the person that makes me happy to come home. I like it when you call and come over, even if you're just looking to watch soccer," Shego replied softly.

"That wasn't the only reason I came over," the redhead admitted in a mumble.

"I know. I know," Shego said while resting her head in Kim's fiery mane. "Kimmie, I'm really sorry that I put you through all of this. I'm just not used to what's going on and I didn't know what to do about it."

"I'm not used to it either," Kim confessed. The way that she felt for the pale woman was so new to her. She had never felt so strongly for a person that when the person rejected to her it hurt her to the very core of her being.

"Do you forgive me?" Shego asked.

Kim did not respond right away. _Do I forgive Shego for all of the turmoil that she's put me through over this bullshit?_ She wanted to do that because she knew that it would make her feel better. _But, what if this all happens again?_ _What if Shego's flips and changes her mind and it all happens again?_ She did not want to have to go through all of the crap twice. _I don't think I could make it through this crap a second time_ _and continuing to have faith in relationships_.

"You don't forgive me, huh?" Shego guessed because of the silence.

"How do I know that you're not just toying with me again? How do I know that next week or next month or next year that you're not going to do this again?" Kim asked.

Shego silently conceded that the kid had a point. "You just have to trust me, like you did the first time we did this," she said while running a finger the handcuffs.

"It's not the same thing," Kim sighed, shaking her head.

"Life is about taking a chance, Princess. Take a chance with me again. I'm not so stupid as to almost let you get away twice," the pale woman remarked.

Kim laughed a little bit. She supposed that she should take into account that Shego had apologized, asked for forgiveness, and even admitted fault. All of that was something and she knew that she would feel better with Shego than without her. Life was all about taking chances and she took chances everyday that could end badly, so why not just add another one to that?

"Shego," Kim said.

"Yeah?" the emerald-eyed female replied.

"You say you love me, right?"

"I do."

"Prove it."

Shego looked down at the redhead and noticed that she was serious. It seemed that she was going to get her chance with her Princess again and she was definitely not going to screw it up. Before she did anything though, she stood up and went to the dresser.

"What are you doing?" Kim asked with a confused look on her face. For a second, she thought that Shego might actually be leaving.

"Just getting the key," Shego answered as she picked up the key and returned to Kim. She unlocked the restraint and removed it from around Kim's wrists. "This isn't going to be that kind of night," the older woman commented with a tender smile.

Kim was speechless, but Shego did not give her too much time to respond if she wanted to anyway. She leaned in and kissed the redhead with sweetness and true affection. It was one of the first times that they shared a gentle kiss that did not involve a farewell. Kim had not even been aware that Shego could kiss her on the mouth with such care.

"I'm going to make you feel like the princess you are," Shego whispered against Kim's lips. "No games, no toys, just you, me, and how things are supposed to be."

Kim only looked at Shego in disbelief and the green-skinned woman planned to change that look. She kissed the redhead again, just as tenderly as before. Kim wrapped her arms around Shego more automatically than anything else, which encouraged the pale woman. While continuing the kiss, Shego reached up and began massaging Kim's breast through her shirt.

The redhead moaned into Shego's mouth because of the adoring attention. It was like Shego's hands were floating across her body, touching her with reverence. She could not help arching into loving hands, silently requesting more.

The emerald-eyed female began easing Kim down onto the pillow to lie her down completely. She had to make sure that the moment was sweet and as close to pure as she could make it. She supposed that she needed to treat the situation as if it was Kim's first time. Hell, as if it were her first time.

Shego moved her hands to put Kim's abdomen while making sure to keep up the kiss. She pushed up Kim's shirt and stroked the soft skin that she exposed. Kim hissed a bit from the unexpected gentleness and Shego smiled. Her mouth left Kim's lips as she removed the girl's shirt and her mouth did not return. She moved her lips to Kim's neck and paid attention to that area now while Kim made small mewing sounds.

"You taste and feel so good, so soft and precious," Shego whispered in between kisses.

The petite hero whimpered because of the words. She was not used to things being as they were when she was with Shego. It was usually something that was wild or even embarrassing; well, it would have been if people knew that she did those types of things. Most of the things, she would never have thought to do. They were always Shego's idea and she was willing to give them a try because she was with Shego.

Now, Shego was treating her as if she were made of glass, easily breakable. All of her touches were smooth, as if her fingers were grazing silk. It made her want to clutch the older woman and she tried to resist, but found it impossible. Her fingers gripped the back of Shego's shirt and purred.

Shego smirked a bit against Kim's collarbone because of the noises coming from the redhead. She was accustomed to Kim moaning loudly or hissing like an angry snake when they were together not mewing like a content cat. She wanted to keep the girl purring.

She kissed and licked her way down Kim's toned torso while one of her hands got rid of Kim's bra. She cupped one of Kim's small mounds with that same hand and kissed around the supple flesh with great care. Kim arched into the pleasuring touches while pulling Shego closer to her.

"You're so beautiful, Princess," Shego said as she watched Kim move against her hand again.

The pale woman attended to her task of lovingly caressing Kim's torso. The redhead cried out, but it was different from when she typically did so when they were together. Shego glanced up at the slender adventurer just to see the expression on her face. The look was of delight, but a little frustration, too.

"You are so adorable, Princess," Shego commented in a whisper of a voice as she kissed the redhead's flat belly.

Kim licked her bottom lip as if she was planning to say something, but she could not get the words out. She decided against talking and went into action. She pulled at Shego's shirt and took it from over the pale woman's head. Shego looked up at the hero and smiled at her. Kim smiled back and leaned down to kiss Shego, returning all of that affection that she felt during their earlier kiss. Shego moaned that time.

While they engaged in a kiss, Shego reached for Kim's pants to remove those. Kim busied her hands with kneading Shego's breasts through her bra. The attention frustrated the raven-haired woman because she wanted to feel Kim's hands on her without cloth in the way. She moved away from Kim's pants for a moment, just to free herself from her bra. Shego flung the irksome piece of clothing somewhere in the apartment; she did not care where because as far as she was concerned, she did not need it. With the bra out of the way, she went back to working Kim's pants and the redhead went back to caressing the green-skinned woman. They started a fresh kiss to keep their lips occupied.

Shego moaned into Kim's mouth around as Kim kept her actions. The hero happy swallowed the noise down and allowed it to set her body on fire. Everything came to a brief halt as the emerald-eyed woman pulled away to take off Kim's pants. As soon as Kim was nude, she started reaching for Shego's pants. The redhead quickly unfastened Shego's pants and they both removed those.

"You're gorgeous," Kim said as she took in the sight of Shego's nude form. Though she had seen it plenty of times before, there was something fresh about it this time around.

"You don't look half bad yourself," Shego remarked with a smile.

Shego moved Kim back up to the pillows and then crawled back on top of Kim. They started a new kiss as their fingertips traversed their uncovered bodies. Moans filled the room and those turned into heavy panting, as they got closer to where they wanted to be. Shego groaned as Kim slipped into her soul while Kim cried out passionately as Shego touched her the same way.

-8-8-8-8-

Kim and Shego were lying next to each other, practically glowing. They were both awake, but they did not say anything to each other. Shego had her arm around Kim's shoulders and was running her fingers up and down the redhead's flesh. Kim's fingers were just as busy, drawing circles around Shego's bellybutton.

"So, does that prove it?" Shego asked with a proud grin.

"It's a start," Kim answered.

"And what's the finish?" the pale woman inquired incredulously.

"When we're still together and we're old and wrinkled," the olive-eyed artist replied.

Shego nodded and smiled. "Oh, that is a long time."

"Backing out already?" Kim teased.

"I never back out," Shego replied.

Kim scoffed loudly, if only to get on Shego's nerves. The pale woman did not take much offense to the noise, only pulling the younger female closer to her. Kim was practically draped on the older woman now and they were both quite pleased with that. Shego's arm moved from Kim's shoulders to her back and she rubbed her back while Kim's hand traveled to Shego's hip.

"When did we get so comfortable with each other?" Kim wondered out loud.

"Who knows? Does it matter?" Shego inquired.

"Not really. I was just curious."

"You shouldn't be so curious. So … when exactly do you go to sleep?" Shego asked, yawning a bit. She was worn out and she would not mind catching some z's, but she wanted to stay up with Kim, too.

"Whenever I get tired."

"And you're not tired yet?"

"Maybe a little," Kim replied and she yawned.

They agreed to go to sleep, even though neither had any real idea as to what time it was. Shego made sure that she had a good grip on Kim as she drifted off to sleep. Kim snuggled into the pale woman as she fell asleep.

When Shego woke up, she did not open her eyes. She noticed that there was some pressure missing. She began reaching across the soft bed, trying to take hold of the body that was supposed to be sharing the bed with her. When she did not find what she wanted, she opened her eyes.

"Princess," Shego called when she noticed that Kim was not in the bed.

"Hmm?" the redhead responded while sticking her head through the sheets that hid the bed from the rest of the apartment. She had a smudge of ketchup on her face.

"What are you eating?" the older woman inquired when she noticed the scarlet mess on Kim's face.

"Potatoes."

"Just potatoes?"

"Yeah, you want some?" Kim offered politely.

"I want you to come back to bed," Shego commented.

"Okay," the redhead agreed.

Kim disappeared for a minute or so and then returned to bed area with a clean face. She crawled back into bed and Shego still did not seem happy. It was because the redhead was dressed again.

"Why are you in that stuff?" the moss-hued female asked as she sat up. She scowled at the pajamas that her lover was wearing.

"Because I got out of bed and I was making something to eat," Kim answered as if it was logical to her. She was not in the habit of wandering around her apartment naked.

Shego only shook her head. She reached over and took Kim's shirt off. The redhead made a puzzled yelp, but she did not resist. Shego smiled, seeing that Kim was not wearing a bra. She then took off Kim's shorts and threw them past sheets, out of the "room." She left the hero in her underwear and then embraced the kid. She forced Kim to lie back down and she went back to sleep.

"What am I, a cuddle toy?" Kim wondered as a joke.

"You're the woman I love," Shego said, kissing the redhead.

Kim smiled at that and settled down to get some more sleep. When they stirred, they made love again. They did not get out of bed until they were both decidedly hungry. Kim was about to offer Shego some food, but Shego quickly put a halt to that by proposing that they order out.

"What? We could have macaroni salad," Kim said.

"You have macaroni salad and what else?" Shego asked suspiciously.

"I could make some more potatoes," Kim suggested.

"Do your taste buds and stomach just not work? What kind of things do you put together?" the pale woman asked.

Kim shrugged; she did not know what to say. Shego ended up calling out to get them some food. The redhead did not argue and they had takeout.

"I'm going to go home for a second," Shego announced when they done with their food.

"For a second?" Kim echoed with furrowed brow.

"I just want to get some clothes. I'll be back," Shego replied.

"Clothes?"

"Well, I was hoping to spend some time here with you. Is that all right or am I not welcomed anymore? I mean, I know how you feel about people that give you orgasms," Shego teased.

"No, come on back. Please," Kim answered.

The pale woman gave Kim a small kiss and then she left. She was right back as soon as she could with what Kim figured was just an overnight back, but it was more than that. Shego was planning to stay for a few days. She just wanted to be with Kim without any distractions, so she came with clothes, food from her house, and some toys to keep things interesting if need be.

-*-(New day)-*-

Kim and Shego groaned as they were taken from their sleep by the sound of Shego's cell phone. The pale woman sucked her teeth and began feeling down on the floor for the irksome device. She could not locate it, though.

"Princess, do you know where my phone is?" Shego asked.

"I haven't seen it," Kim answered.

"Check your side."

Kim grumbled and scowled. The one time that she was getting a good, long sleep and now she had to waste it looking for a damned cell phone. She quickly checked her side of the bed, did not see anything, and curled back up next to Shego to go to sleep. Shego felt the pressure against her and turned to see what her lover was doing.

"I'm guessing you didn't see it," Shego deadpanned.

Kim shook her head and that was it. The ringing stopped and Shego shrugged. They both went back to sleep, but that was not the last that they heard from the phone. Luckily, the next time that it rang, they were awake. Unfortunately, they still did not know where it was.

"Kimmie, have you seen my phone yet?" Shego inquired while trying to follow the sound.

"Nope," Kim answered. She was helping to find the phone, but their combined effort was not working as well as they assumed it would.

The pair kept looking and Shego eventually found the phone underneath some of their discarded clothes. She looked at the number to see who was calling and she frowned a bit. Kim noticed the expression, but did not have the chance to ask what was wrong because Shego answered the phone.

"Yeah?" Shego said.

"Where the fuck have you been?" Betty demanded in a roar.

"Minding my fucking business," the pale woman answered.

"The fuck you are. You're ruining my damn business. Do you have any clue as to what the hell you've done? You broke so many dates and cost me so much money. What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Calm the fuck down. I've been doing my own thing," Shego replied. She had been lying in bed with Kim and living with Kim for over a week. The outside world be damned; Kim was in agreement.

"Well, when the fuck are you coming back to work?" the brown-haired woman inquired in a harsh tone that Shego did not appreciate. They were too much alike for things to ever go right when they were upset with each other.

"Whenever I fucking feel like it. So, get the fuck off of my back. Shit, you need the money so bad, you go back to doing it. If not, shut the fuck up," Shego ordered and she disconnected the call.

Shego turned to Kim when she was done with the phone call. She went over to the redhead and embraced her. _Why the hell would I go back to work when I could stay in the loft apartment and be with my Princess?_

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: Betty didn't like being hung up on. How does she respond?


	9. It’s electric

I don't own these characters.

9: It's electric

Betty frowned and made a fist, having to resist the urge to punch her desk. It was made from beautiful mahogany and she did not want to risk scratching it. She could not believe that green-skinned bitch hung up on her.

"What the hell is going on with Shego?" she grumbled heatedly. "Is it that the cranky asshole wants to get killed? Because if that is the case, I would so fucking oblige her. Who the hell does she think she is? And for that matter, who the hell does she think I am? I'm not just going to put up with her flighty shit like I'm one of her fucking clients."

She tried calling Shego back only to find out that the pale woman was not taking her calls. She scowled. _Okay, you know what, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and let the crazy bitch have a moment or two to find herself._ After that, all bets were off, though, and she was going to wipe Shego off of the face of the fucking Earth. No one just hung up on her and then pretended like her calls did not matter, even if she had known the person for as long as she had known Shego.

And just because she had known Shego for as long as she had did not mean that she had not wanted to kill her for a long time. In fact, she was willing to bet that anyone that had known Shego for as long as she had wanted to kill her. In fact, a lesser soul probably would have killed Shego a long time ago. So, if anything, she was extremely generous and supremely patient with the green-skinned woman.

Okay, so, right, she was going to give Shego sometime to get her head together and then beat her to a bloody pulp. It was a good plan in her head. _It'll teach Shego some fucking respect and get her head back into the game_.

-*-(New day)-*-

Kim was currently trying to escape her bed. She was not quite making it because Shego was not letting her, clutching whatever body part she could get her mitts on. She was laughing as she tried to get away and Shego looked rather amused by what was going on, too.

"Come on, Shego! We need to get out of bed sometime!" Kim stated as she tried to pull her arm back.

"Says who?" Shego inquired as she worked to get her girl back to her.

They had been spending most of their time there in bed. It was more than just moving under the sheets, but cuddling and things. They lay there and talked, but they had just been in the bed. Kim could not handle it, even though she enjoyed being near Shego.

"C'mon! I need to move! Lemme go!" Kim pled.

"No," Shego replied and she yanked the redhead back to her. She smiled in triumph and she held Kim to her and settled back down in the bed.

Kim threw on a pout. "You don't want to get up and stretch or something?"

"No, I like lying in bed whenever I can. It's a great place to just relax and think, especially since you don't have a TV or anything like that," Shego teased a bit, rubbing her lover's back.

"Well, we could've always gone to your place."

"What? And I'd lose you to the soccer channel. I want you all to myself," the pale woman said as she nuzzled Kim's neck.

Kim had lost thanks to the gesture. She sighed in defeat and relaxed against Shego. Shego released a content sigh and placed a few tender kisses to the younger woman's neck. Kim purred slightly.

"Shego …" Kim said in a hesitant voice.

"Yeah?" the emerald-eyed woman replied.

Kim thought long and hard about what was on her mind. _Do I really want to ask _that_ question?_ It might ruin the great thing that they had going and even though she wanted to get out of bed, she did not want things to totally end. She decided against asking her question.

"Do you wanna go out for pancakes later on?" she opted to inquired.

"Sure. Wait, it's morning?" Shego asked while glancing toward the window. The sun was up, but hell, all that told her it was daylight.

"I think so. I'm not sure. I just have a craving for pancakes," the redhead answered with a shrug.

Shego just laughed. She did not know why she thought that was funny, but she did. Maybe it just because her girl was really adorable and almost everything that she did earned her a smile from Shego. Shego hugged Kim close to her.

"I really do love you, Kimmie," the pale woman commented.

Kim doubted that she would ever get tired of hearing those words. It was nice to be loved, especially by Shego. _Was this what Bonnie always wanted for me?_ If so, then dammit, Bonnie really was a good friend. _I have to remember to stop giving her a hard time about parties and stuff now_.

"I love you, too," Kim managed to say. With those words out, it felt like something blossomed inside of her and unleashed a wave of warmth through out her entire being.

"What?" Shego asked in a shocked voice and she looked down at the redhead in her arms.

"I love you, too," Kim repeated in a stronger voice than that first declaration. The warm feeling inside of her grew.

"Why'd you say that?" the pale woman asked in a curious tone. It seemed odd for Kim to just decide to reply to her proclamation, especially since it was not the first time that Shego had made the announcement through their quality time together. It was, however, the first time that she had gotten an answer.

"Why do you mean 'why'? I say it because I love you, doy," the younger woman remarked with a small smile.

"You never said it before," Shego pointed out.

"Well, there's a first time for everything," Kim commented.

Shego smiled a bit and held Kim closer to her, kissing her forehead. The pale woman settled onto her back and pulled Kim on top of her. She caressed the redhead's back and Kim snuggled her head under Shego's chin.

"I really do love you," the redhead said in a low voice.

Shego's heart sped up from those simple words. She felt like she could do anything because Kim loved her and because she loved Kim. It was a wonderful thing and, while it was still scary, it was not like before. She could never reject the emotions again nor could she reject Kim again.

The emerald-eyed woman could not believe that she had nearly thrown away what she had with Kim. She had never felt so good in all of her life just from being with someone. She hoped that the feeling never passed. She wanted to love Kim forever and always. She also wanted to be loved by the redhead for all eternity.

"I'm going to make sure I keep proving that I love you, Shego vowed. "Because I never want this to end."

"Me, too."

Kim could understand the feeling because she also never wanted the feeling to wane. She desired to be in love with Shego for the rest of her life and to be loved by the green-skinned woman forever. She wanted to wake up next to the pale woman every day of her life, cuddle with the pale woman whenever she could, and just be with her.

"You get me, for some reason. I've never had anyone get me," Kim told her.

"Not much to get, Princess. Feed you, let you watch some soccer, and stand back if your phone thing goes off. I don't know how that's hard for anyone, but I'm glad because it mans I get to keep you all to myself."

Kim chuckled. "Is it really that easy?"

A smile grew on Shego's face. "It really is. You're not that hard."

"Well, you're not hard either. All you need is a little cuddling."

"This is quite true. Feeling you against me … I don't know. It just makes me so calm and at peace, like nothing can ever go wrong. I've never felt like that before. You're like made of magic or something."

Kim laughed at that and the conversation faded with her laughter. They stayed there for a while, just enjoying being near each other. They finally got up and decided that it was time for a shower. Kim hoped that after the shower, they were heading out for pancakes. Lately, they had been taking showers together and then they would just going right back to the bed with the only stops being for the phone to call out for food or in the refrigerator for something to drink.

"We should take a bath when we come back in," Shego suggested.

"A bath?" Kim echoed as if she did not know what that was.

"Yes, a nice, relaxing bath with candles, bath beads, bubbles, and everything. It'll be nice. Your bath is more than big enough for the both of us," Shego said.

"I don't have any of those things," Kim pointed out, scratching her head.

"We'll pick some up after we get some pancakes in you," the pale woman replied while rubbing Kim's flat belly.

The redhead giggled at the touch. Shego smiled just because of the sound. Life was supposed to be this nice, they both thought.

After their shower, they got dressed and finally left the apartment. They wandered around to a place that served breakfast all day long and Kim got a short stack of pancakes while Shego ordered some lunch since it was the afternoon. It had been a surprise to them to find out that it was the afternoon, but they did not really care.

"We might need to put up a calendar, just to keep track of what year it is while we're at your place," Shego joked.

"You're the one that wants to stay in bed all day until we don't know what day it is," Kim countered with a teasing smile.

They sat by a window in the restaurant and ate their meals while discussing every little thing. They then glanced out of the window because they thought that someone was watching them. When they did not see anyone, they turned back to each other.

"Did you …?" Kim asked, lifting a curious eyebrow.

"Yeah, it did seem like that," Shego answered with a nod.

"Okay, as long as it's not just me," the redhead replied.

"No, not just you. I wonder what that was all about."

"It's probably nothing. Every now and then fans recognize me, so maybe that was it," Kim figured. Shego shrugged because that was plausible.

They went back to their food and conversation. They did glance out of the window again as it felt like someone was watching them, but they did not see anyone. They shrugged it off each time and continued on. When they were done, Shego decided to pick up the check, even though Kim reached for her wallet.

"Your money's no good here, Princess," Shego insisted as she dropped a few bills on the table.

"What? No, I can pay for myself, at least," Kim argued.

"Nonsense, Princess. I don't want you paying for anything while I'm here," Shego commented while putting her arm around Kim's waist.

"Well, what if I don't want you to pay for stuff while I'm around?" Kim countered.

"Too bad. I'm the one in charge around here," Shego remarked as she led Kim out of the restaurant.

"Since when?"

"Since always. Don't argue with me or you'll end up in cuffs on the bed," the pale woman taunted the redhead.

Kim only laughed. They walked down the street, headed for a store to buy the items that Shego wanted for their bath later on. As they went on, Kim glanced behind them a few times. Shego noticed and she began glancing behind them.

"Did you see somebody?" the pale woman inquired.

"Nah," Kim answered.

"Are you sure?"

"Not really. I mean, it feels like someone is following us, but I don't see anyone that stands out," the redhead explained.

Shego nodded. "It does feel like someone is following us." She could guess who it was that was following them if someone was following them. She decided not to care about it because she could handle whoever it was. She just focused on getting everything so that she could have a nice, hot bath with Kim.

The green-skinned woman silently considered that maybe they should go to her apartment for the bath. Her tub was bigger and just nicer than the tub at Kim's house. But, there was something about Kim's place that was just comforting and soothing, so she would rather be there.

They went to the store and Shego had Kim sniffing all kinds of scented candles. It was not something Kim had ever done, but it was not all that bad, especially since she knew what it was for. Shego also directed Kim to several different types of bath beads and skin softeners that could be added to their bath. Kim liked so many that she did not know what to pick and left it up to Shego. They made their purchases after spending a little time in the store.

"Maybe we should go grocery shopping since we're out here," Shego suggested.

"You think so?" Kim asked.

"Yeah, we should do that. We need to get some food in your house that I can eat considering I'm not some Martian like you," Shego teased.

"Hey, you should be happy that I can eat just about anything," the redhead remarked.

"Oh, is my Princess trying to get dirty?" the pale woman inquired, ruffling her lover's hair a bit.

"Considering the things I've done with you, I thought I was dirty," Kim commented with an amused smile.

Shego laughed. "No, you're still pretty mild. I'll get you dirty later on down the line. Right now, let's get some food and then get to a nice, long, hot bath," she said.

Kim nodded in agreement and they went grocery shopping. Shego did most of the shopping because Kim really did not pick things that went together. The redhead shopped by buying things she liked. She just put together whatever she thought was good without going too overboard. Kim would buy things like bread, but never get sandwich meat. She would buy tomatoes, but nothing else for a salad. She even bought canned tuna, but it seemed she only did that when she was out of bread, so it was not like she could have a tuna sandwich and she really did not know how to make anything else with tuna, so she just ate it by itself.

Shego brought what she thought the apartment needed, which was very different from what Kim usually did. She did not say anything when Kim picked up things that she liked if they were snacks because it did not matter if those went together or not. Through out the shopping, they could feel a pair of eyes on them.

-8-8-8-8-

The couple was not going crazy. There was someone watching them. He wished that they would get to wherever that they were going. He was irked that he had to go through the candle-sniffing crap when they were out, but now he had to go through grocery shopping. _What the hell is Shego doing just out grocery shopping, anyway? What the hell is going on?_ She was a take-out girl through and through unless someone was wining and dining her.

He had thought that he was being slick when he was waiting at her apartment, but that did not work out since she had not been there for days. Briefly, he thought that she was onto him and that was why she had not gone home. He had to go out and look for her. He had spotted her in that breakfast restaurant and saw how carefree she was being, so he knew that she had not been dodging him on purpose. He decided to wait for her to get off of the street before he did anything. It seemed like it was going to be a very long wait from the way things were going. _What the hell is she doing, anyway?_

_She's acting really weird_, in his opinion anyway. He wondered if he should call in and tell the boss what was going on. He decided against that because those were not his orders. He was only supposed to retrieve her as violently as possible and that was what he was going to do.

So, he waited and watched what was going on. He watched where the couple was going and made sure to stay out of sight. He did note how paranoid they seemed because they kept looking behind them. Sure, he was there and everything, but he did not think that they knew that someone was following them.

-8-8-8-8-

Kim and Shego returned to Kim's apartment with enough supplies to hide away for a few more days. Shego's plan was to hole up in the loft for a few more days anyway. The redhead was willing to go ahead with that arrangement as long as she could get out of bed every few hours to move around. She was all for the scheme because the world seemed to be getting along fine without her; after all, no one had blown the planet up and that was all the proof she needed that law enforcement was doing a bang up job.

"So, what do you want first, hot bath or dinner?" Shego asked.

"What do you recommend?" Kim countered curiously. It sounded so very romantic and that made it foreign territory for her.

"I say I'll make dinner first and then we get into the tub and snuggle up together before retiring to bed where I will rock your little world for the rest of the night," the green-skinned woman declared with a devious smile.

"Sounds like a good plan," Kim agreed with a cute smile.

Shego went to the kitchen with the groceries while Kim took the bath supplies to the bathroom. As she came out of the bathroom, she noticed something a bit odd, namely someone seemed to be crawling in through her window. She shook her head incredulously and hurried over to the window. She waited next to the wall with her mouth open in disbelief that someone other than Shego was actually breaking into her home_. Boy, this burglar had terrible luck_, she thought as he landed next to her.

"You know, if you run for the door right now, you might make it," Kim commented, causing the young man to turn around.

Kim got a quick glance of the young man before fighting broke out between them. He was an ebony-haired, onyx-eyed kid pretty much. He was probably her age from the look of his face. Well, if he was her age, she would not about to lose to him in a fight. She did save the world on a weekly basis, after all.

The pair began fighting with the intruder throwing the first punch. Kim dodged the strike and countered with her own attack. He moved to avoid the blow and went to kick the redhead. She blocked and they began making a ruckus as they fought, which caught Shego's attention.

The pale woman turned to the source of the noise and saw the fighting. "What the fuck? Will, what the hell are you doing there?" she demanded with a snarl.

"I'm here for you," he answered while making sure to focus on Kim, who was more than he assumed she would be.

"Like hell I'm going to go with you," Shego declared.

"I will bring you back," Will stated, grunting as he blocked Kim's kick to his side.

"Fuck you," Shego replied as she stalked over to the battle.

Will noticed Shego approaching and knew that he would have his hands full with both of them. He put all of his power into a kick and sent Kim flying back. She landed on her art table, breaking it, and then she hit the floor. She coughed in pain while Will turned his attention to Shego.

"You shouldn't have hurt my Princess like that," Shego growled like a vicious animal and she practically jumped on Will.

The young man blocked as many of her attacks as he could, but she eventually hit him and he fell back into the center of the apartment. He landed by the computer and when he looked up, he saw Shego stalking toward him, eyes locked directly on him, like a hunting tiger. He acted quickly and aimed his wrist at her. A wire shot from his wrist and connected with Shego's shoulder. An electric current flowed from the wire into Shego, causing her to scream, and she collapsed to the floor.

"What the hell did you do to her?" Kim demanded as she climbed to her feet and ran for Will with a murderous look in her eyes.

Will quickly climbed to his feet with the hope that he could fend off Kim and then collect Shego as he was supposed to. He got up and moved just in time to avoid a very powerful punch. Kim ended up putting her hand through her computer screen. She did not seem to notice and turned to her opponent to take his head off.

Will could not believe his luck; _how the hell did Shego find a girl that was damn near as dangerous as she was?_ He blocked her attack, but it was still hurting when she tagged him. He decided to just take care of her like he had done Shego. He leaped back and fired his wire a second time. When the electric current hit Kim, she hollered in sheer agony and fell to the floor, involuntarily twitching. He considered that he might have used too many volts; he had the thing set to deal with Shego, after all.

"I guess you just want to die today, is that it, Will?" Shego asked as she climbed to her feet and wiped away blood from her nose. She scowled deeply as she began slowly walking toward him.

"Shego," Will said and he aimed his wrist at her again.

"It's not going to work a second time, you fucking bastard. You hurt my Princess," Shego said in a menacing tone and her hands ignited.

"Shego," Will repeated and his voice was almost a tremble. He knew that she was a powerful woman with some kind of superpowers and he knew that she had no problem with critically injuring someone if things came to that. He thought that he would be able to take her, but if his weapon had no affect on her, then he knew he was at her mercy.

Will decided to call Shego's bluff and he fired his wire a third time. It did not seem to bother her when it landed. The thing was just that a huge shock only tended to piss her off thanks to her powers and delivering a second huge shock only minutes after the first did not even do that. Her body just seemed to adjust for electricity.

The young man did not know what to do as Shego drew closer with her hands aflame, dancing with green energy, and a deep scowl on her face. He gulped and could only pray that he made it out of his current mess alive. Although, he was not going to give her the satisfaction of taking him down easily, he told himself.

"You hurt my Princess," Shego repeated and it sounded like a death sentence. Then, she attacked.

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: the end.


	10. Caught

I don't own these characters. Once again I have to point out that I don't own pop-tarts.

10: Caught

"How you doing, Princess?" Shego inquired for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

"I told you, I'm fine," Kim replied. They were sitting on her bed. She was covered in bandages. She thought that she looked worse than she felt, but that was to be expected since Shego made sure to cover almost every mark on her body with a bandage, however minor it was. The only way to get her to stop was to call Shego's approach "mothering" and she backed away almost immediately.

"I just want to be sure. I mean, do you need to go to the hospital or anything?" Her eyes begged for Kim to be all right.

"No. Shego, you don't have to worry about me. I'm a tough girl. I can handle a lot of things. I mean, you do remember that I save the world and junk almost daily, right? I've been through a lot worse," the redhead replied.

"I just don't want you to in any pain if it can be helped," the emerald-eyed female stated, patting the redhead's knee.

Kim smiled a bit; her girl was sweet. Well, her girl was sweet to her anyway. That guy Will was not so lucky. She glanced over at him and shook her head in regards to his current state.

Will was still unconscious and he was shackled to a pipe that connected to the apartment heater. He had burn marks on him thanks to tangling with Shego. The only reason he was alive was because she had no desire to go on trial for murder and chance being away from Kim for the rest of her life.

"What did you do to him? Why does it look like he got burned?" Kim inquired.

"Oh, that?" Shego flared her hands for the hero. "A comet gave me superpowers when I was little. It gave me the chalky skin tone, too. Does it bother you?"

Kim shook her head. "Not at all. Considering some of the things I've seen in my life, that's actually mundane. Shego, what was this all about?" She nodded toward the unconscious intruder.

Shego waved the whole thing off. "Nothing to worry about. I'll take care of it."

"Tell me. Does this have something to do with your … job?" She could hardly look her lover in the face when she asked the question, but she managed.

Shego was the one that looked away, but quickly realized what she did and turned back to Kim. While she was facing Kim, her expression was not very open. She did not appear willing to share. They had not brought up her job since she had been staying at the apartment and she had been pretending to not have a job. She knew that Kim was not very comfortable with her occupation and she really did not want to think about it while she was with Kim.

Taking a deep breath, Shego opened her mouth to explain as best she could. "My boss isn't very happy with me breaking a bunch of dates."

"So, what are you going to do?" Kim asked.

"What do you mean?"

"What are you going do to? Are you going to go back to work?" the redhead clarified her statement in a low voice. Now, she had to look away because she was afraid of the answer. It was seemed that she did not want the pale woman to return to her job.

"You don't want that, do you?" Shego asked in a low tone.

"Well, I don't want you to get hurt if you don't. I mean, if your boss is going to be sending people after you and everything."

Shego laughed a bit and she embraced the younger woman around the shoulders. She leaned in and kissed Kim softly. The redhead was not sure how to take the actions, but she curled into Shego's body.

"You are just so adorable. I can handle my boss. She just likes to overreact to everything. But, back to my question, you don't want me to go back to work, do you?" Shego asked once again.

"Well … I'd rather you didn't. I don't really like the idea of someone else getting to have you for the whole night and getting to play games with you and being … intimate," Kim answered in a low voice.

"Oh, Princess, that's all about business. There's nothing intimate about it, especially on my end. You think I like spending my goods nights with idiots when I could be curled up on my sofa with you, hating that you're watching soccer instead of letting me have my way with you?" the raven-haired woman said with a teasing smile.

"Still," Kim argued.

"Come on, you're my Princess and they're just my job."

"So, you're going to keep on … being a … a … an escort," the redhead managed to say.

"I need to pay rent somehow and I need to be able to take you out. It's a very good paying job. Gives me a lot free days to be with you and I don't work as often as I would with any other job," Shego explained.

The pale woman could understand why her good girl of a girlfriend might have problems with her remaining an escort. Kim liked being on the straight and narrow, so having her girlfriend be involved in something illegal was a bit troublesome. Knowing that someone else was going to be touching her girlfriend in so many lustful ways was even worse than the fact that Shego was doing something illegal. Kim could not look at it in the business way that Shego would have liked her to.

"Princess," Shego started to say, but she stopped just to change the way that they were situated. She wanted Kim to be able to look at her right in the eye to help ease the redhead's mind. She moved Kim to where the younger woman was straddling her waist and sitting on her lap. She then cupped Kim's face.

"I want you all to myself," Kim pouted, wrapping her arms around Shego's neck.

"You do have me all to yourself," the pale woman stated, purposely looking at their positions to illustrate her point.

"No, it's not the same thing. You're gonna be with other people," Kim replied, pout still intact.

"People I don't give a damn about. You're the only person in this world that I care about, the only person on Earth that matters to me. It's just a job, Princess. It's just a job. Nothing more than a job, I promise you," Shego vowed moving her hands from Kim's face to put them on Kim's slim thighs. She massaged the areas for a moment.

"But, it's a job where you sleep with other people," Kim pointed out.

"Yes, I do, but it's just sex. It doesn't have any meaning. It's nothing. You don't have to worry. You know you don't have to worry," the pale woman promised and she placed light kisses on Kim's lips.

"You can't bribe me with kisses," Kim muttered, yet she was leaning in for more.

"Why can't I?" Shego inquired with a small smirk. She spoke very close to Kim's mouth and she took another kiss.

"It's not gonna work."

"Yes, it is. Look, Princess, I'm all yours just like you're all mine. You let me keep my job and I won't complain about your job."

"My job?" Kim echoed, pulling back to make a face.

"Yeah, your job taking on nutcases that want to blow up the world or throwing yourself in harms way to save some place from nature's wrath. You think I like the idea of you doing that?" Shego asked.

"I can take care of myself," Kim insisted.

"And I can still be yours while keeping my job," the raven-haired female stated.

Kim's brow furrowed and she stared at Shego, eyes searching for something. "You want that job?"

"It's better than a regular nine to five, Princess. I make a lot of money and I'll be able to take care of you in the way I want to and I don't work that often, so I'll be able to spend a lot of time with you. I like those ideas very much. Look, let's just give it a chance for a while and then if you're still uncomfortable with it, we can talk about it and figure something out. Okay?" Shego proposed.

Kim did not seem to like that idea, frowning and pouting at the same time. Shego leaned in for another kiss to assure her Princess that everything would be all right. She also caressed Kim's thighs to help drive things home.

"Give it a chance, Princess," Shego whispered and kissed her girl again. She repeated those words and that action several times.

The redhead eventually nodded in agreement. She had to admit that Shego had a point. Her job was dangerous. It was one of the main reasons that women did not want to date her in the first place. Shego would have to put up with that. The fact that Shego was willing to put up with it spoke volumes of her level of commitment and how much she understood Kim. She supposed that she could do the same for the pale woman.

"I'll give it chance," Kim promised. "I'll give it a chance."

"Good," Shego said with a smile.

"Now, what do we do with him?" the redhead asked while turning to point to Will, who was still out like a light.

"I'll take care of him. Are we still going to have our bath?" Shego inquired with a suggestive smirk on her face.

"No, not with some stranger in the house," Kim answered, curling her lip in disgust at the very idea.

"You worry too much. He's knocked out, but I'll get him out of here and then we're going to have our bath," Shego stated.

Kim did not seem very against that plan. She slid off of Shego and they got up off of the bed. Shego went over to Will while Kim went to inspect her art desk and sighed as she surveyed the damage. Her writing desk was also a casualty of the fight. She looked down at her bandaged hand and then glanced over at her computer screen, which was another victim of the brawl. Shego noticed the things her lover eyed.

"I'll get him to replace those," Shego vowed.

"Are you sure?" Kim asked.

Shego snorted. "No problem. Now, you hang tight and I'll be back in a few hours, okay?"

Kim nodded. "Do you want me to go with you?"

"Nah. I know it seems serious, but my boss is just uptight. I can handle anything that she might throw at me."

"You sure?"

"Positive. It won't be bad," the older woman promised.

"Call if you can and let know it's all right as soon as possible."

"I will, but I'll be fine." Shego gave Kim another kiss to reassure her before going about her task of getting rid of Will.

Shego removed the cuffs from the pipe and put them around Will's wrists. She picked him up with ease and then walked back over to Kim. She gave the redhead a kiss farewell as if nothing bizarre was going on.

"Back in a flash," Shego promised before disappearing out of the front door.

-8-8-8-8-

Betty was sitting at her desk when the door to her office burst open. She frowned as she realized it had been kicked open and the doorjamb was now busted. Shego stepped in with Will in her grip. She tossed the injured boy in front of the beautiful black desk and then took a seat in the empty chair that he landed next to. Betty frowned and Shego did the same. Shego also put her feet up on Will, using him as footrest.

"Good day," Shego said with false civility while scanning the nice, clean office. Looking around, one would never guess what Betty did for a living, namely run a fairly popular escort service. She just looked like successful businesswoman, which she was.

"Indeed," the one-eyed woman practically grunted.

"You should get out of the office more. It's a really nice hotel. You should see the rest of it," the pale woman commented.

"Let's cut the shit," Betty said in a hard tone.

"Let's. What the fuck is the big idea sending this stupid fuck to collect me like I'm some silly bitch that works the streets for you?" Shego demanded and she gave Will a bit of a kick as she mentioned him.

"Because you work for me," Betty answered through gritted teeth.

"You know better than to act like this. I could walk whenever the fuck I feel like it and you need to stop acting like that couldn't happen. I could take all of my clients and leave you with these annoying bitches that you can push around or you can send Will after. You're not my fucking pimp. You should know better than to try this shit with me."

"You should know better than to pull the shit that you pulled," Betty countered, pointing a finger at the pale woman.

"Put that fucking finger down. I'm not your child. I pull whatever the hell I want to. I'm my own person and you seem to have forgotten that shit. Now, this wasn't funny and you're lucky I didn't kill this silly bastard." Shego nudged Will with her foot. "You're also lucky I didn't pick up a phone and call the police when the dumb kid broke into the place. What the fuck is wrong with him? What the fuck is wrong with you for that matter? Why didn't you talk to me like a regular person? You need stop acting like a fucking kid," she declared quite seriously.

"Oh, look who's talking. You hung up on me and stopped taking my calls and you think I'm acting like a fucking kid?" Betty stated.

"You were getting annoying and bossy and you know that shit doesn't fly with me. You should've calmed your ass down and then called me back and left me a voice mail when I stopped answering. That's what an adult would have done. Now, stop acting stupid and let's talk about this like two adults or something," Shego suggested.

Betty frowned, but Shego had a point. It was a bit childish to send Will after Shego. The bigger mistake that she was unaware of was the fact that Will attacked Shego in Kim's home and had engaged Kim in battle. Shego was not about to tell Betty that the thing that pissed her off the most was because Will had done all of that foolishness in her lover's home. She did not want Betty to know about her lover considering how stupid the brown-haired woman was starting to act. _I can't believe it, but now I can't even trust a woman I've known for damn near ten years_.

"So, what's the deal? Do you quit?" Betty inquired, sitting up a little straighter and projecting a calm demeanor now.

"Is that what you want because that is what it seems with you bringing this asshole out?" Shego countered, folding her arms across her chest.

"Look, we both know what I want. What do you want?" the one-eyed female asked in an even tone.

"I want you to stop bothering me. I do what I want when I want and you know that. Now, I'll handle my clients like always and you get the hell off of my case. Let's both be professionals, like we used to be. Oh, and laughing boy here now owes me money," Shego replied.

"Owes you money?"

"The stupid fuck broke a lot of things in his quest to be an asshole, so he owes me money. I'll let you know how much in a few days. You'd better not try this shit again, Betty, or so help me I swear there won't be a body to find," Shego growled.

"You're threatening me?" Betty inquired in sheer disbelief.

"No, I'm promising you. Okay, because you're not some big scary fucking martial artist to me or some big boss. I know just as many moves as you and I have something that you don't. If you want to test me and you want to go at it, come on. I'm not fucking playing around with you and I don't know what gives you the idea that I am. Yes, I work for you, but that's only because it's easier to get new dates. I don't do it out of fear or respect, so get your fucking act together or just meet me outside one day. Don't send your little fanatical attack dog. Just meet me outside and bring whatever weapon you think will keep me from getting in your ass," Shego replied.

Betty sat back in her seat as if she was considering those words. She silently admitted to herself that Shego was with her just because it was easy for the pale woman. Shego was rather lazy by nature and went for the easiest way to do things; hell, that was one of the reasons that Shego had her job. She was not even sure what made her think that it was a good idea to send Will after the emerald-eyed female when she did doubt that she could handle Shego in a battle. She was lucky that Will was still alive.

"Are we done?" Shego demanded. She really just wanted to get back to Kim. After all, the redhead did owe her a nice hot bath.

"Do I have to worry about you breaking anymore dates?"

"I've got my dates. Don't worry about me. Just don't pull this shit anymore. It wasn't fucking funny and I won't take it so well if it happens again," the green-skinned woman stated.

"Just make sure you don't break the date," Betty stated, trying to regain some form of control over the situation.

Shego did not even bother to respond to that. She stood up and left the office. Betty got out of her seat and went to check on Will. He was obviously having just about the worst day of his life. He was bandaged for some of the worse wounds, but he was burned badly and still seemed to require medical attention.

"I suppose I should be glad that she left him alive," Betty muttered with a sigh as she lifted Will off of the floor. She was happy that he was still alive and she would make sure to never give him such a dangerous assignment ever again. "Now, let me get you a doctor to help keep you alive."

-*-(New day)-*-

Kim scratched her head and yawned. She rubbed one eye and then the other with her palm_. It's about that time_, namely time to get away from the computer. She had pushed herself away from the desk and stood up. She yawned again and began stretching. Many joint popped and she sighed in relief once she stood up.

"Time for football," the redhead decided while rubbing her stomach, which was partially exposed thanks to her tank top.

Kim exited the room and walked down the stairs. She now lived in a small house, which was much bigger than her old apartment. The upstairs had an office for her to do her writing in and the basement was set up for her to do her painting in. Things were not so difficult for her anymore when it came to writing or painting. She put some decent time for each other almost everyday, when she was not running all over the globe, anyway, or spending time with her hot girlfriend.

She went to the kitchen first and got something to eat. She grabbed some chocolate milk and some pop-tarts; it was one of her favorite snacks. She then went to the living room to watch some matches. She flopped down onto the sofa, which was black leather and unbelievably soft. She put her snack down on the coffee table that was in front of the sofa and the table was also an onyx color. She grabbed the remote and clicked on the large wall-mounted television. It was already on her favorite channel.

She settled in for the long haul, even though she was not going to have her snack for long. She sipped the chocolate milk and ate her pop-tarts while enjoying her game. She was not sure how long she sat there, but somewhere during the second match, she could hear movement upstairs. A few minutes later Shego joined her on the couch.

"Hey, Princess," Shego said with a yawn as she collected the petite hero in her arms and pulled the younger woman to her.

"You had a good sleep?" Kim asked while cuddling into her lover.

"I wanted you to stay in the bed," Shego replied while nuzzling her face in the Kim's neck. Kim mewed because of the attention.

"I had to get some writing done while it was on my mind."

"Well, you should've come back when you were done," Shego said while placing a light kiss on Kim's neck and one of her hands moved to Kim's stomach. She caressed Kim's flat belly.

"I wanted to see a game."

"You always watch a game instead of coming back to bed. You're never going to change, are you?"

"Do you want me to?" Kim inquired. She turned to look Shego in the eye, not surprised by all of the love, compassion, and understanding that she saw there. Those emotions had not waned in a year and she doubted they would ever.

"I've been happy with you like this for a whole year. Why would I want you to change?" the pale woman commented.

"Well then, you should've known I was going to watch a match or seven."

Shego laughed. "You're not going to watch matches all night."

"No?"

"No, I'm going to make us dinner and then we're going to take a nice, long, hot bath together before we slid back into bed for the rest of the night," Shego said.

Kim did not object since she was glad for anytime that she got with Shego. They had been together for a year and Shego still made her feel extra special when they were together; it was the same with Shego. They both still felt at peace with each other and could relax with each other.

Yes, Shego still had her job just like Kim was still a globetrotter, but they were both slowly moving away from those things to be with each other more often. They were also looking to give those things up because they knew that it would make the other happy, which they both wanted. It was just a bit difficult to give up very old habits, but they were steadily doing so.

Kim also still had parties to attend every month, but now Shego made sure that she never had to go alone. At every party, it was clear who they were with because their arms were almost always around each other. At first, Bonnie was not sure what to think and eyed Shego with suspicion, borderline hatred in her eyes, but slowly the air cleared and Bonnie could see that the couple was in love. Love was all Bonnie ever wanted for her friend because she believed that Kim deserved and needed love. Maybe Shego did too, Bonnie considered.

"You know, Princess, you are still very adorable," Shego commented.

"I hope I stay that way to you," Kim replied.

The raven-haired woman smiled and just held the little redhead to her. She was glad that she had chased after Kim a year ago and she hoped that she would never have to chase Kim again. Kim had no plans on leaving and she hoped that she and Shego would be together for as long as possible.

-8-8-8-8-

The End.


End file.
